


Shadow of the Tomb Raider...And Guest

by Sharonfofaron



Category: Tomb Raider (Video Games), Uncharted (Video Games), lara - Fandom
Genre: F/M, Lara Croft - Freeform, Rourke - Freeform, Sam Drake - Freeform, Samuel Drake - Freeform, Shadow of the Tomb Raider, Tomb Raider
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-24
Updated: 2019-06-10
Packaged: 2019-07-16 11:49:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 21
Words: 24,149
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16085519
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sharonfofaron/pseuds/Sharonfofaron
Summary: Of you and your two younger sisters, you've always been the oldest and most stable one--but unfortunately, one of those sisters is Lara Croft. And Lara has a tendency for getting into trouble. This time, she's triggered the Mayan apocalypse--and while Samuel Drake might not be one for apocalyptic events, he's very much one for adventures with you.Can you fix your sister's biggest mistake? And--even more importantly--can Sam get you to actually notice him along the way?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This follows the plot of the newest Tomb Raider game, so don't read if you're trying to avoid spoilers!

It was a calm, overcast day in New Orleans, and Sam, Nathan, and Sullivan were enjoying some smokes out in the back alleyway of Jameson's bar--or, more accurately, Sam and Sullivan were smoking while Nathan not-so-subtly hit them with reproachful glances every four seconds from his seat on a crate. 

"Nate, will you cut that out?" Sully grumbled. "Let a man die his own way." 

Nathan sighed in such a beleaguered old-lady-fashion that Sam couldn't help laughing. "Easy, Nathan," he joked through the cigarette between his teeth, Nathan's disapproval ironically making him savor it "you're gonna make your pearls fall off your necklace if you get yourself all worked up." 

Nathan opened his mouth to retort, but was distracted by the arrival of a girl entering the alleyway. She was petite, but well-built, with the biceps and confident posture of someone who worked out a lot. The contrast of that muscle--and her tense expression--with her surprisingly innocent Disney-princess face was a strange one; it made all three men start watching her out of the corner of their eyes, and made Nathan shut up. 

The girl only gave them a cursory glance before starting to pace, eyes roving between the alleyway's entrances and the harbor's boats. Clearly she was waiting for something, Sam mused, and he shared a curious glance with the other two men. 

"Hot date?" Nathan asked politely, and Sam and Sully both glanced at him, surprised. It never failed to amuse Sam that his baby brother could make friends literally anywhere, anytime; he might always be the funny one, but Nathan had that boy-next-door thing that made people of all ages love him instantly. Sam was secretly a little jealous. 

As always, Nathan's inquiry was interpreted as a lighthearted and friendly one instead of an intrusion; the girl stopped in her tracks for a second, as if she'd forgotten they were present, and put on a small, rueful smile before pacing again with her hands on her hips. "Afraid not," she laughed in a distracted English accent. "But I am supposed to meet someone here."

"Right here? In this alleyway?" Nathan asked, and again the woman recognized his question as a nonthreatening one. She nodded with another little laugh, but a more nervous one this time. "Yes, I-oh thank GOD you're here--" 

You walked around the corner just then briskly, your sister instantly running towards you and grabbing your upper arms urgently. "I failed, Y/N. Worse--" she burst out, looking panicked. 

You were much taller than your sister, and you'd seen her freakouts far more than once, so you just looked down at her with a skeptical expression while she clutched you. "Lara, what the hell did you DO? Jonah's been calling me all night!"

"I-I forgot to say goodbye to him, I was too busy coming here to find you," Lara replied rapidly, looking a little ashamed as she realized she'd made someone worry. You sighed, the situation all too familiar, and ran a hand through your long (H/C) hair in tired exasperation. 

"And why are we meeting here?" you asked, gesturing vaguely at the alley, your eyes still on her face. You could see that there were some people a little farther down in the alley, but your sister's volume and frantic presence were too urgent and directly-pressing for you to look at them. 

Lara stepped away from you, her hands to her head, and started pacing in place nervously. "You-you remember the Kukulkan legend?" she asked tentatively, words coming clearer now that she'd let some of the stress out. 

"Yes," you said, sighing again and crossing your arms to lean against the opposite building's wall. 

"Trinity's after it. The site in Cozumel was undamaged. You know what that means--"

"YES, I know what it means," you cut in smoothly, still unimpressed. Your eyes traveled through the alleyway, running over the men for a brief second before your sister's pacing made your attention go back to her. "So you went there?" 

"Yes, and I found the--I--" Lara practically seemed to choke on her words. "Dominguez has the dagger. I lost it."

THAT made you freeze in place, and your eyes locked onto her face. You were not someone who got angry easily--but when you did, you had a HELL of an icy stare, and Lara always dreaded being the target of it. She visibly flinched, shrinking away like a scolded child. 

"Wait." Your voice was low and dark, your height and your glare making Lara grow smaller and your expression shifting to become genuinely upset. 

"You TOOK it?!" You hadn't yelled--instead it was a loud incredulity-laden whisper, that the men in the quiet alley easily heard--but Lara winced as if you had.

"Shh!" She said, hands up in a placating gesture. She glanced behind you to see if anyone from the open street was listening in, before going back to looking dismayed and defensive. 

"Lara," you said slowly, ignoring her warning and speaking at normal volume now "TELL me you were not stupid enough to take it without the Box." 

There was a moment of silence--the eavesdropping men staying stock-still, fascinated--before Lara seemed to crumple. 

"Trinity was right on my tail!" she protested feebly, her voice rising in volume and growing more entreating. Your own hands went to your head now, and you turned away in frustration for a second, looking absolutely infuriated as she continued trying to get your attention back "We couldn't let them get hold of it--"

"'WE', as if Jonah had any part in this plan," you cut in, rolling your eyes knowingly. "YOU did this, and you know it. What happened in Mexico yesterday, that was you." Lara stopped moving, her eyes big and wet, and nodded. "You know about that?" she asked quietly. 

"Of course I know about that," you snapped. "I read the fucking news." It was your turn to start pacing now, and Lara recognized the change in the dynamic and wisely stood still. This was how it always was; Lara created a problem, found a way to transfer the stress, and then waited for her big sister to fix the problem. You couldn't BELIEVE you were back here again. 

"Jesus Christ, people DIED, Lara!" you hissed, standing still for a second and staring at her in dismay. "HOW could you be so stupid?!" 

"I know, but there's no time! Y/N, he'll use the Box and the knife to--"

"I KNOW what he'll do with it--" you snapped, cutting her off again in exasperation. You sighed and put your hands on your hips, regrouping. "Okay. He hasn't found the Box yet, or yesterday wouldn't have happened." 

Lara nodded tentatively, sensing that the yelling-at-Lara part of the day might be over for the moment. You ran a hand through your hair again and straightened. 

"You're going to help?" Lara whispered nervously. 

"Of course I'm going to help," you replied bitterly, not even looking at her. "I don't have a CHOICE." You sighed again and rubbed your forehead. "Okay, I can't help without all the information. Where is Dominguez now?" 

"I don't know," Lara said faintly, shrugging helplessly, "but I know that we have to go to Pe--"

"DON'T say it." You held up a hand, a little more aware of the eavesdroppers now even though you weren't looking at them. "He'll catch up to wherever we go eventually. Does anyone in Cozumel know what caused it?" 

Lara knew you meant yesterday's catastrophe. "No, I don't think so." 

"Okay. And Jonah?"

"He's still on board..."

"Fine. Where's Sophie?" 

Lara looked hesitant, and you finally met her eyes again. "Syria," she whispered. 

You looked skywards for a second and smiled grimly, unable to do anything but laugh bitterly at the situation. "Goddammit, why can't you two ever make anything easy," you muttered to yourself. "All right. And who's with Dominguez from Trinity?"

"Commander Rourke."

You nodded to yourself as you looked off into the distance over the harbor; that news was something positive, at least. "That's good."

Lara looked pleased. "It is?" 

You nodded again, still mostly to yourself. "Rourke's men will listen to him more than Dominguez. If I can broaden the divide between the two, Dominguez will lose almost the entirety of his fighting force." 

You started moving toward the bar's back door, near the three men. Normally you'd have been more discreet--but there was no time for that now. "Come on," you said to Lara, moving briskly, "Jameson can find us a plane." 

The men were staring at you as you walked by--two of them changed their faces to smiles (the youngest and oldest, it looked like) while the middle one gave you one of the most devilish smirks you'd ever seen. It surprised you, and your gaze lingered on him for a second; seeing that you weren't exactly smiling or smirking back, Sam felt his courage start to waver and his grin fade--but then you went inside, your sister following like a kicked dog. 

There was silence for a second while all three guys looked straight ahead, deep in thought. 

"Well," Sully eventually said. 

"Yep," Sam responded.

"Yeah." Nathan murmured last. 

At that, Sully turned and opened the door. "Excuse me, ladies," Sam already heard him saying, "I hear you're in need of a plane?"


	2. Chapter 2

Half a day later, the five of you were in Sullivan's plane, headed for Peru. The boys had had something to finish up last night, so they hadn't been able to reconvene with you and Lara and actually learn what this trip would entail--and Nathan, Sam, and Sullivan were positively buzzing with curiosity about it. 

Sam was also buzzing with the desire to start flirting with you, like a racehorse at the starting gate. But you were sitting next to your sister opposite Nathan, making a striking contrast to Lara in your height and quieter demeanor while you looked out the window--and by the neutral but intense look on your face, he judged that his normal flirtations might have to wait. You did NOT look happy. 

Lara, on the other hand, was relaxing far more about her problem now that she knew her big sister was solving it. Sam knew from his own experiences with Nathan that it also just helped to have your sibling around, and to not be alone. Lara didn't have to LITERALLY save the world by herself now, and the support had noticeably bolstered her mood. She and Nathan were being complete chatterboxes--as was Jonah, the muscular Hawaiian man that Lara had brought along. 

Sam didn't really consider himself to be an expert, but he sensed from the other man's vibe that he was viewing Nathan's friendliness as a threat--and Sam prided himself on never having been friend-zoned, but he could see that this guy was clearly in the middle of it. Feeling pity for him, he considered texting Nathan and giving him a hint to back off--but he knew from previous, VERY embarrassing experiences that all Nathan would do was open the text and turn to him in person and say "What's this, Sam? Why have you sent me a text message saying 'Hey, you're making that guy jealous, so start mentioning your girlfriend'?".

Sam settled for elbowing Nathan companionably and saying, "Hey, too bad Elena couldn't make it in time, ah? Precolonial ruins seem like her kinda thing." 

Nathan inadvertently took the bait, smiling. "Yeah, I know right? Elena's my girlfriend," he explained to an interested Lara, a politely-listening you, and a FAR more relaxed Jonah. "She's a treasure hunter too, when she's not being a journalist." 

"So." Sam shifted forward, grudgingly putting his interest in you on the back burner and focusing on the task at hand (and giving himself a mental pat on the back for playing Cupid). "What do we got?"

"All right." Lara sat up straight and started laying out some photographs and drawings."Have you heard of Trinity?" 

"Yeah, super-secret military organization, right?" Sully said from the cockpit. "Not sure how they intersect with archaeology, though."

"Trinity goes by several different names," Lara explained, warming to her role as teacher. Jonah watched her enthusiastic gesticulations affectionately. "and they're involved in literally hundreds of corporations in small ways."

"A hand in every cookie jar," Jonah joked, and Lara laughed. You raised an eyebrow, and made what Sam thought might be an ATTEMPT at a small smile, before looking back out the window. 

"Trinity is led by a High Council that is focused primarily on finding and exploiting ancient artifacts, particularly anything that will remake the world. Sickness, suffering, sin, weakness--they want to rid it of everything that could be perceived as less than perfection." 

"Talk about taking the fun out of life." Sam actually got a little smile and a glance from you out of that one, and couldn't help his own self-satisfied grin. Nathan smirked to himself, recognizing his brother's game. 

"Jonah and I have been tracking down and eliminating Trinity cells all over the world for the past two years, ever since we first encountered them on a place called...Yamatai," Lara continued. You blinked at that, despite still staring out the window, and Sam sensed that you'd been there too. 

"Not a nice place, I take it," he said quietly, meaning it more for you than anyone else, but Lara and Jonah nodded in response and you only gave him a slightly thoughtful glance before looking away again, posture perfectly straight. 

"Trinity wasn't responsible for the atrocities that happened there," Lara said, looking a little grim now "but our investigation into them later revealed that they were the ones who killed our father." 

There was silence in the plane at that; you, unable to avoid the obvious looks that you and Lara were getting, deigned to dignify everyone with a calm and polite glance before looking back outside. Lara had made this her vendetta; you hadn't, and you felt no guilt over it. You were too busy trying to keep your still-living family members alive to focus on personal retribution, even if it was all Lara thought about. And besides, it was a long time ago. You tended not to hold on to things like Lara did. 

Sam was too busy watching you to speak, but Nathan wasn't. "I'm sorry," he said genuinely. Lara gave a rueful smile. "Well, I've certainly been getting my own back; Jonah and I have destroyed all but a few of the known cells. And" she started refocusing on the job again "this time, Trinity is after a world-editing artifact called the Silver Box of Ix Chel." 

"Ix Chel?" Sam asked, interested. You turned to him smoothly and said, in a friendly voice, "Goddess of the full moon." 

"Ah. Seventeenth century European pirates are really more our thing," he said, almost apologetically. But you smiled at him anyway, as if forgiving him, and Sam's own smile grew wider. 

Lara, thrown by you speaking, seemed to back off a little in her body language. Sensing she wanted you to temporarily take the lead, you let out a small sigh and sat up to speak more--and Sam had to drink his beer to avoid visibly reacting to your elegant English accent. God damn, he thought, this girl is fancy. He wasn't wrong to feel a little intimidated; you were wearing a thick-strapped tank top, leather jacket, boots, and jeans--similar to what Lara was wearing--but you carried yourself as if you were going to a royal ball. It wasn't snooty, just...pretty, Sam thought. Or enchanting, or something. He felt like he was watching a beautiful exotic animal in its natural habitat, in a way. 

"The Box of Ix Chel is stored somewhere in the hidden city," you said, sounding almost bored. For you and Lara, after all, this was not even remotely new information. "Paititi."

"Ah. THAT hidden city," Nate said, sharing a look with Sam. They HAD heard of that; it was a city of gold, and every treasure hunter on Earth was looking for it. 

"When the dagger is placed inside the Box, it will summon the god Kukulkan," you continued, "the Mayan god of Creation and Destruction. He's closely related to the Aztec deity Quetzalcoatl. But if only the knife has been activated, and not the Box--" you didn't look at Lara then, but still felt her looking down at her feet guiltily "then a series of cataclysms are set in motion. A tsunami--which happened in Cozumel--a storm, an earthquake, and a volcanic eruption, in that order. Then there's an eclipse, and if we don't have the Box and the knife by then, or stop Dominguez from completing HIS version of the ritual, then the sun will go out. Permanently." You made yourself keep your anger out of your voice; none of these guys needed to feel the brunt of it. They were here to help, after all. 

"Jesus." Sam said, his interest in hearing you speak now downplayed by realizing what you'd ACTUALLY said. "So we're quite LITERALLY trying to save the world."

"Yep." Lara said quietly. 

"Aaaaaand there's no treasure."

"Well, that'd depend on if we found the city of gold to start," you said surprisingly blithely, leaning down and taking a beer from the cooler. Sam couldn't help smiling a little at that, despite the high-pressure task in front of them. He liked girls who could drink beers with him. 

"How do you know it's in Peru?" Nathan asked curiously, and Lara leaned forward. "We found a series of riddles that led us there. Dominguez will think that it leads to Brazil--but he's forgetting about precession." Lara beamed, proud of herself. 

"Pre-what?" Sam asked, but he was looking at you, not Lara, so you answered. "The Earth tilts, so over time the stars appear in a different place on the horizon. Important if you're navigating by the night sky," you said casually. "A constellation was in part of the riddle, but Dominguez apparently hasn't taken the two thousand year difference into account." 

Sam smirked. "Okay then," he said brightly. "Sounds like we're in business." 

"And sounds like we're going to be heroes, if we do this right, Sam," Nathan grinned. 

"Hey, I'm not gonna say no to that." Seeing that you were starting to drink your beer--and feeling a little less intimidated now that he'd gotten you talking--Sam lifted his own to clink with yours. Bemused, you let him before taking a sip. He was cute, you thought abruptly--but you tamped the thought down as you remembered what you were here for. Lara had screwed up--again. And innocent people were already paying for it.


	3. Chapter 3

"So can I ask, who's the other girl you'd mentioned? The one in Syria." Nate's question was curious and friendly, his expression guileless. You were about halfway through your beer now, sipping it delicately under Sam's not-so-subtly-watchful gaze, and tilted an eyebrow. "She's our other sister," you said as Lara was saying "The middle child." 

Nate and the others laughed. "Is she in this business too?" he asked. Lara nodded. "Yes, but Sophie takes a more scholarly approach to things. She's in Syria doing LEGITIMATE archaeology, and she doesn't really like to be in the field. At least, not when there's gunfire. Which there usually is when we're around." 

You listened silently, doing nothing to contradict her statements. They were true, after all. If you were the anchor and Lara was the firework, Sophie was most definitely the bookworm. And she was a far bigger fan of her books than she was of dirt and bullets and grime. She DID participate in Lara's vendetta, unlike you, but in her own more subtle and information-support-based way. Right now, she was actually ensconced in her work at a Syrian museum--despite the dangers there. Sophie may not have liked danger, but she had a surprisingly ditzy and oblivious way of sitting right in the middle of it when she was on a research job. More than once, you'd had to show up and pull her out; you'd already pulled her out of Egypt and Morocco during riots, twice. A bomb could be hitting the ceiling above her--something that had ACTUALLY happened, shattering a beautiful library's glass ceiling--and she wouldn't notice until you dragged her out of the way. If taking care of Lara was like trying to catch a deliberately-destructive toddler, trying to protect Sophie was like reaching with the other hand and saving a hapless baby that followed butterflies off of cliffs. It was exhausting, but you were used to it by now. 

Sam watched you still, unable to dispute the obvious similarities between you already. He could see the same slightly beleagured look in your eyes that he used to have when he was worrying about Nathan, trying to plan a way to keep his baby brother fed when he himself could feel his stomach grumbling every second of every day like a heartbeat. It was a hard job, being the oldest sibling, and it was an even harder job doing it alone. He wondered how young you'd been when you lost your father, and if he'd been your only living parent. Maybe you'd smiled more then... 

"Hey, Y/N, how come you were dressed so nicely before?" Lara asked in a chipper voice. You hadn't spoken to her much still, but Lara had a strange way of innately sensing when you were secretly relaxing. You liked these guys; she could tell, and the knowledge that you were enjoying their company made her feel a little more comfortable. Plus, you had a habit of setting aside your anger and temporarily letting her out of the doghouse when you were actually ON the job, like now, so she figured she was safe. 

You blinked; you'd forgotten that you were wearing a slinky evening gown yesterday in the alleyway, what with the Mayan apocalypse and all. The dress and shoes were buried somewhere in your bag now. Not that SAM had forgotten that outfit, because he most certainly hadn't. 

"I was at the ballet," you said briefly, keeping your tone light even though you knew the sentence would make her sad. Lara's eyes got big and puppy-like, and her voice quiet. "I didn't know you still went to that," she said softly. 

You were looking back out the window, but gave her a brief glance. "Sometimes I do. I still like to watch, even if I'm not in it." 

"You were a ballerina?" Nate asked, sounding like he'd never heard anything cooler in the world. Sam, however, was still watching you, sensing that it wasn't a fun topic. 

"I was, yes," you said politely with a small smile. "But I got hurt, so I don't do it anymore." You didn't mention HOW you'd gotten hurt, but Lara still looked chastened to remember it. Her face fell, and for once she actually looked genuinely remorseful and tired. 

"That's too bad," Sam said, sounding serious. You met his eyes; he genuinely DID look sad to hear it. For some reason, that look threw you off a little, and you blinked before releasing a small breathy laugh and shifting in your seat to look back out the window with a shrug. "It's all right. Can't exactly spend all my time pirouetting when these two are always about to get themselves killed, after all." 

"So Sophie has a habit of doing that too?" Nate laughed. You both nodded. "Sophie sometimes helps me with my work against Trinity," Lara explained, "just like Jonah does. But Sophie ALSO has a habit of choosing particularly dangerous parts of the world for her archaeological digs and excavation sites." 

"Like Syria," Sam surmised. You gave Lara a look, and she shrugged comically. "I only just learned she was there, Y/N! We can go get her out after we've gotten the Box."

"In that region, she'll be lucky if she survives the next six riots that are set to happen this week," you said quietly but caustically. Lara's eyebrows raised. "How do you ALWAYS know those things, Y/N?" she asked. 

You shrugged blithely, looking away. "I pay attention."

"Ah. Well, it doesn't matter." Lara waved a hand dismissively. "Sophie IS lucky."

No, Sophie usually has ME, you almost said, but you kept it to yourself. You were on a plane to Peru, with bigger problems, and Sophie no doubt had Rex with her, a sexy ex-Navy SEAL who was working archaeological site-security and who was absolutely smitten with the middle Croft. She'd be fine. You hoped. 

Sensing that you were actually a little worried, Sam tentatively handed you another beer. You took it, your mouth unable to help smirking a little on one side, and Sam's own smirk lifted to mirror it as you opened your drinks. Well, you mused to yourself, at least the company's not so bad.


	6. Chapter 6

"So, ladies," Sam said after another hour or so of light chatter interspersed with some sandwiches that Nathan had very thoughtfully packed. You complimented the food, which made him feel a little jealous; maybe HE should start cooking, or at least whatever making sandwiches was... "What do we got to go on for this Box, huh?" 

He and Nathan and Sully had looked up the Mexican disaster from two days before--a tsunami that had hit out of nowhere on the Day of the Dead in Cozumel, killing hundreds. Elderly, children...almost no one had been spared, and they'd tactfully decided to avoid bringing it up unless the girls did first. 

Lara straightened, eager to share her theories and start making a plan. Unfortunately, there wasn't much to work with. "I think we're looking for a volcanic mountain," she said. "The riddle said "Go south along the shore until you find the pink fish--Jonah found that, it's pink dolphins, found only in the Amazon--" Jonah preened a little at that, relishing being Lara's focus for a second before she moved on "then chase the heart of the serpent--that's Hydra, the constellation Y/N mentioned before--" she nodded at you briefly, speaking fast "to the silver-crowned mountain where the Twins confer. The 'crown of silver' is probably a band of clouds," she reasoned. 

"And the Twins...?" Sam asked, looking thoughtful. "I mean, that's probably some kinda landmark, right? Two cliffs, two streams...?" Your eyes went to him for a moment, surprised. He sounded smart, and interested, and like he'd done this before. It was a reminder that the sardonic guy who'd been goofing off only minutes before with his brother was actually very intelligent--and a knowledgeable historian to boot. Impressive, you thought to yourself. 

Sam felt your gaze on him, and it took all he had not to look back or let a smile grow on his face. He'd gotten your attention, and he wanted to continue sounding smart if it meant he'd keep it. 

"And uh...you said a storm is the next cataclysm?" he asked, keeping his voice logical and neutral. He didn't want to upset you, or Lara, but he figured he kinda had to know. What were he and his little brother getting into? 

"Yes." Lara's voice was careful now, and you knew what that meant. It meant she felt like she was in trouble, and was hoping she could still get out of it in some way. 

"Hey, Lara, come take a look at this map for me, will ya?" Sully asked from the front. "I think we should be almost there, but visibility's shit." 

Lara let out a laugh, relieved to be escaping, and headed to the cockpit. 

Sam couldn't help his concern--or his sarcasm--and looked at you, speaking between you and his brother and Jonah. 

"See, I can't help but notice that a storm is next, and we just happen to be on a PLANE," he said slowly and grimly, his Boston accent caustic-sounding--but you heard the nervousness growing there, and sighed. 

"Believe me," you said, "I've been thinking the same thing. If we could've gotten here by train, and the apocalypse could wait, I'd be doing that instead." 

"At least we have parachutes if something goes down," Jonah said. 

Sam and Nathan suddenly looked so much like guilty children that you sat up from your window seat and Jonah stiffened. "Boys..." you said, and Sam and Nathan both turned red. 

"See--"

"There was an...INCIDENT--"

"It wasn't our fault, really--"

"The Turkish arms dealer was completely out of line, you should've seen this guy--"

"Huge misunderstanding--"

"And now they're gone." 

You and Jonah stared at the Drake brothers, incredulous, while they turned redder and redder. "It was that or fatal belly-flops into the Caspian Sea," Nathan said feebly. "And we were GOING to replace them, we just hadn't gotten around to it yet--"

"There are no PARACHUTES?" you whispered, sounding panicked enough that Sam started fanning his hands in a calm-down motion, looking back to see if Lara and Sully were listening. 

"Jesus Christ--" Jonah swore, running a hand over his head and shifting in his seat uncomfortably. "This storm ALREADY looks like bad news--"

"It's just a little rain," Lara said smoothly and lightly, just coming back from the cockpit and sitting down. Your own hand was over your mouth, rubbing it in frustration for a second before you leaned back and looked out the window again, Jonah doing the same thing on his side and both of you looking noticeably more nervous and intent on the weather now. 

Sam and Nathan sat silent awkwardly, like kids waiting for the principal to call them into an office. 

"We'll concentrate on the cloudy mountain," Lara said brightly. 

"A cloudy mountain," Nate said with a cough, trying to shake off the recent conversation (and his blush). "If we find it, how do we know we have the right one?" 

"Gut feeling? It's our only clue." Your eyes were still looking outside, but your face darkened a little now at her response, and Lara expected it. She wished she had more to go on, particularly since it would help her case. 

"Like that?" Jonah asked suddenly after a few more minutes of silence, pointing out his window. Lara rushed over to see the mountain, as did Nathan Drake (Sam started to get up, but stopped when he saw you weren't) while you stayed seated and stared out at the worsening storm. The rain was getting louder.

"That's it!" Lara said happily. 

The plane lurched then, making her and Nate stumble a little. Slowly, your gaze met everyone else's--Lara's shocked, the three men's knowingly despairing. 

"Nathan, sit down and buckle up," Sam said worriedly. Nate and Lara quickly took seats near Jonah, looking grim. 

"Victor," you said quickly and loudly, "Is there anywhere to land?" 

"Yeah, looks like that place Kuwaq Yaku is just down near the mountain," Sully said over the sound of hard rain. "Might get bumpy though--" 

A tennis-ball-sized hailstone whipped through the cockpit then, shattering the front windows and knocking Sully out. He crumpled against the plane's wheel, and an alarm started sounding as the plane began to plummet. 

Cold, wet, fast air filled the plane, making you all shout over each other as you tried to give directions. In all the confusion, it was a full ten seconds before you realized when you and Sam's section was completely ripped from the plane. A few moments of screaming on both your parts, eyes closed, hands up to shield your faces, and the world vanished into the dark.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't worry, I would never kill Sully off like this! :) He WILL have a headache though.


	7. Chapter 7

You awoke to find yourself very distantly seeing a hazy view of a deep green and brown landscape below your feet, fern-filled and muddy. It took almost an entire minute for your vision to clear up even further, revealing that the view was distant because you were above it. HIGH above it--hanging, still in your seat, buckled in tightly. 

Wincing and groaning a little, you started rolling your neck and wiggling your fingers experimentally. Everything ached a little, but nothing really hurt. No sharp pains. That was good, you told yourself. 

Now that you knew you could move your head, you gingerly turned to the left to see Sam still strapped in beside you. His eyelids flickered a little, and he winced as a droplet of condensation landed on his forehead, but he didn't stir. 

"Sam..." your voice sounded stronger than you'd expected, and louder in the quiet hum of the jungle. "Sam." You spoke more firmly, and saw his eyes opening very very gradually. It took them a while to focus, and when they focused enough to see how far away the ground was, you watched his senses go on high alert. 

"Sam. You all right?" you asked, a pretty girl's British accent still high enough on Sam's priorities that he instinctually tore his focus from the situation to look at you. 

With a grunt, he shifted in place a little. "Hey, Y/N," he groaned out, making you let out a rueful little laugh. He'd spoken as if you'd just happened to meet at a club up here in the trees. "Y-yeah," he panted, "I think I'm good. You?"

"Yeah," you said, both of you shifting in your seats now. "I think we can make the landing. Are you ready to drop down?" 

"Nah, I think I'll just hang out here," he said. A laugh burst out of you unexpectedly, partly from the shock that was still in your system and partly due to his weak joke. Your laugh made him smile though, and he nodded. "Yeah, I'm ready." 

It took a few seconds of awkward fumbling for you to both successfully undo your buckle clips--and immediately plummet right down into some mud with grunts and groans. Grimacing a little, you got to your feet before Sam, helping him up as he coughed a little and crawled further out of the mud. "I gotta quit smoking," he coughed out with a husky laugh, and you gave him a bracing pat on the back before straightening to look around. 

"How the hell did we make it outta that?" Sam asked, looking back at the plane's wreckage in the tree. "And do you think everybody else...SHIT, I gotta find Nathan--"

"You boys seem like survivors to me," you said smoothly, knowing that he was really worried but trying to keep things lighthearted. You already knew Lara was fine; she might have a tendency to get the people killed AROUND her, but she also had an unerring ability to walk out of insane situations alive and almost unharmed. You were genuinely confident that she was off somewhere trouncing through the forest. The thought made you a little mad, feeling your own aches and seeing Sam wince as he tentatively rolled his shoulders. 

Sam laughed at your comment. "Yeah, we are at that," he chuckled. "So, where to now?" 

"We need to get to higher ground. Find the other parts of the wreckage," you replied, hands on your hips. You took off your jacket--making Sam stare as you readjusted your tank top, although he was quick to stop when you turned his way--and tied it around your waist. 

"Sounds like a plan. And HOW are you less muddy than me?" Sam asked in joking exasperation as you both started walking. "I mean, we just fell in the same mud, and you look like you took a dainty little British fuckin' mudbath while I wrestled an alligator or some shit." 

The swearing surprised you, and Sam was relieved to hear your laugh again. He thought maybe he'd gone too far with the British joke, but fortunately not. 

"I don't know, Sam," you said breezily, "The mud must just be attracted to you."

Sam opened his mouth to respond, but something let out a huffing roar in the log right in front of you. You both jumped a mile, towards each other, and huddled together while the animal ran away. 

"Howler monkey," you said abruptly after a moment of comical silence, the two of you still just about clutching each other in fright. You were typically good in a crisis--due to years of practice--but you didn't love being in a jungle filled with hiding places for scary things. Apparently, neither did Sam. 

"Right," Sam said faintly, puffing up in a such a little-boy attempt at restoring bravado that you couldn't help a smile, "Yeah, yeah I knew that." He glanced at the small space between you before you both seemed to have a tacit agreement and simultaneously stepped further away. 

"So" Sam coughed "higher ground, then?"

You nodded, looking ahead. "Higher ground."


	8. Chapter 8

"Grumpy things, aren't they?" Sam muttered to you as the two of you climbed, edging across a cliff's tiny natural walkway higher above the trees. The howler monkeys were still unsettling both of you--and now that you were climbing in between two huge groups of them, the howling noises were decidedly NOT pleasant. They'd put both of you on edge. 

"I know. Not exactly my favorite track on the 'Rainforest Sounds' CD," you joked, but Sam could hear your nerves in your voice just like he heard them in his. 

"You think they're gonna get mad and go for us?"

"I don't know. I've never been a big fan of monkeys, so maybe," you whispered.

"Well, YEAH, now that you said that out loud. They probably heard you," Sam whispered back. You reached a tree branch and swung across it to land on the next portion of the cliff. "Nice going, Tarzan," Sam joked. "Or--wait--I mean Jane." 

You laughed a little. "That would make YOU Tarzan, Sam," you said, waving him over, "so come on."

Sam handed the leap and swing like a pro, landing easily beside you. "Nice," you said lightly, and Sam couldn't help grinning like a little kid at hearing your compliment. Jesus, he couldn't believe that even despite a plane crash and worry about his brother, he was still excited about the prospect of hanging out with you. Plus you'd liked his jump--you'd NOTICED him--

The howlers started up again, and you both visibly jolted. It was then that a flare emerged in the sky, further ahead and to the right, deeper in the jungle. "Hey, someone's over there!" Sam said, pointing. 

"Good thing there were flares on the plane," you said happily. The comment made Sam remember why there hadn't been parachutes, and for a second he was filled with guilt and worry again...but he brushed it off. "Hey, we didn't forget EVERYTHING," he joked. You looked at him with a small smirk and an eyebrow raised, surprised and impressed. It wasn't every day that you met a man willing to make fun of his own mistakes. 

Sam felt like he was blushing again under your appraising gaze, and coughed again. 

"Looks like we can get down that way." He nodded towards a log and a mudslide. "Buuuuut it'll mean more mud."

Two minutes later, you were equally muddy now--"Equal-opportunity-mud," Sam had laughed -- and had found someone's base camp near part of the wreckage. The fire was lit, and some supply boxes had been dragged by the fire, so there must be SOMEBODY here--

A gun cocked to your right, and the two of you jumped for a second before seeing that it was Sullivan. He was sitting on the ground leaning against a vine-covered tree, holding the gun weakly but steadily, and had a huge bloody wound on his head. But there was still light in his eyes, and he was quick to lower the gun. 

"Nearly shot your goddamned heads off, kids," he grumbled grouchily, but you and Sam could both hear some relief in his voice. 

"Just you here?" Sam asked, while you knelt down beside him and started gently examining his head. 

"Yeah, no sign of the others. But then again, I haven't been able to get up to much. Perked up long enough to use a flare gun and set up camp; needed to take a breather before I could open those supply boxes there." Sully winced as you looked at his wound. 

You glanced at the boxes and saw one long, military-grade box. You hoped it was yours; Lara hadn't packed all of her equipment together, but you had. 

"Sam, there should be a radio in that one," you said excitedly, pointing. Sam was quick to open it and let out a little whoop of victory, making all three of you smile. 

"If Lara's half of the plane is with them, then she should have the other one," you added, relieved. Sam was already turning it on. "Nathan? You there? Come on, Nathan--" stress and despair were starting to tinge Sam's voice with worry, while you patched up Sully and quietly listened, when there was a response.

"Sam! You're okay!" 

Sam sighed in relief. "Holy SHIT, Nathan, don't do that!"

"Me?! YOU'RE the one who decided to just LEAVE the plane while it was in the air and take half the seats with you--" Nate's joking protests were almost successful at covering his own relief, but Sam heard it all the same and felt a warm surge of love for his brother. 

"You all right? I've got Y/N and Sully--"

"Oh thank God, how's Sully doing?" 

"He's banged up but alive, par for the course," Sam said sardonically, sitting down beside you and Victor. Sully winced as you finished up bandaging his head. 

"Sully's gonna have to stay here," you said regretfully. "No adventuring for him." 

"What, am I concussed?" Sully asked. You shrugged. "You might be. We have no way of knowing, and that was a hard hit." 

"Fine. Guess I'm benched. Can't say I feel well enough to put up a fight," he sighed. That gave Sam pause; shit, he thought, Victor really MUST be hurting. 

"Y/N says Sully needs to stay here and rest, we've got a base camp set up so he should be fine on his own."

"WE?" Sully grumbled. "I don't remember you helping--"

"Okay. Lara and Jonah are fine, Lara went to look ahead--"

Of course she did, you thought to yourself grimly. 

"Where are you?" Sam asked urgently, still not entirely done worrying about his brother. The Drake brothers didn't like being separated--even if Sam HAD gotten his version of a date with you during it. A weird, messed-up-muddy date. 

"Up on high ground. This big...plateau-like cliff. Jonah, do we have a flare? Great. Okay, watch, we're gonna fire it--"

Sam headed further into the clearing near camp, leaning his head way back, and grinned. "I see it, Nathan. Okay, here's ours." He took the flare gun from near Sully on the ground and fired it straight up. 

A moment later, Nate answered. "Got it! You want to head here or are we coming to you?" 

"Stay put," Sam said, "we'll do the walking." He didn't love the idea of his brother tramping through these jungles to find him; there were howler monkeys out here, after all.


	9. Chapter 9

Twenty minutes later, Sully was set up by the fire and Sam was gathering more firewood--within shouting distance, since neither of you were keen on the jungle's noises. Sam preferred to get it all done at once--and, yeah, okay, maybe show off how much muscle he had for you--so he was carrying almost more logs than he could see over. 

"Hey!" he said cheerily as he arrived, giving you a cheeky grin over the tiptop of the highest branch near his face. You were kneeling down beside Victor, tending to him softly, but looked up and gave Sam a big smile. "Hi!" Knowing that everyone was alive and well had noticeably lightened the mood, and even in his concussed state Sully had been making you laugh. You liked the old man--not that you'd ever actually call him that. 

The full-wattage smile from you made Sam almost drop his logs, and he just barely caught them before they all went down. 

"Nice. You got a lot!" you said approvingly. "Victor, you sure you're all right?" you asked briefly before standing, touching his arm and watching his face earnestly. Sam watched you both out of the side of his eye, suddenly feeling jealous. HE'D like to be reclined and fondled by you, and have you looking at him like that. Maybe he could pretend to have a concussion...

Shit. He didn't know any of the symptoms. And Victor would call him on it, the bastard. Goddammit. 

"Yeah, don't worry about me. You know, you'd make one hell of a nurse," Sully said with a faint wink. You laughed and tossed your hair back as you stood up straight, tying it into a French braid as you turned to talk to the now-flustered Sam. He had your attention again, and he liked it, but it also made him turn red. The way you'd been bending in those pants and that tank top hadn't helped, either.

"So, you gotta plan?" he asked, surprising himself by how calm and cool he sounded. And hoping very abruptly that you liked Boston accents. He couldn't help feeling like his caustic one sounded rough and uncouth compared to yours. Hell, you'd even sounded posh just when you'd said "Victor, here's some antiseptic."...

You looked at him as you finished the braid, questioning, and he grinned and pulled out a cigarette. Thank goodness they'd survived the crash. "You strike me as a girl who ALWAYS has a plan," he smirked. You laughed at that and nodded. "Not always. But in any situations involving my sisters, I suppose you're right." 

Sam hummed in agreement between his cigarette. "So?" 

"Well, I guess from Victor's map that we're about fifteen miles from your brother and thirty-five from Kuwaq Yaku," you said, face getting thoughtful and serious like it had back when you were planning things with Lara in the alleyway. Sam watched you think, impressed. He felt his mouth twitch in a smile at your pensive expression. "Once we get there, we'll send someone back with a car for Sully, and he can take up residence there until this whole thing is finished. Or until the world ends," you joked, brushing a stray hair back. Sam chuckled. "Yeah, there's always that." 

You nodded towards his watch; you'd been tempted to grab it, turning his wrist to look at it yourself, but something stopped you. "What time is it?" you asked instead. Sam kinda wished he had a fancier one now. 

"Around noon. What, you think we got time to walk it?" 

You bent back over your metal suitcase, "Yeah. We can grab some food for the road, eat as we go, and use these--" you held out a palmful of earpieces, and Sam gingerly took one, fingers brushing over your palm. You firmly ignored the sensation and kept talking, rifling through the suitcase. "Sullivan will keep the walkie, and we'll just listen in. It's not ideal, but it seems better than leaving him here without being able to call for help. Victor," you turned back to him, still kneeling "we should be able to send help no later than tomorrow morning. Are you sure you're all right?" 

Sully scoffed. "Pfft, I'm FINE. Don't worry about me, sweetheart." 

You didn't seem to mind the pet name, but Sam did. He bristled and gave Sullivan a glare. 

"Well, you're definitely keeping the gun," you said smoothly, noticing the glare in your peripheral vision but steadfastly ignoring the smile that threatened to escape. You couldn't help it if you found that jealous behavior strangely...cute. 

"The others were all with the other side of the plane, right?" Sam asked, eyes grudgingly moving away from Sullivan to refocus on you. You nodded, pulling out a longbow and a quiver of arrows. "Yes. But I should be able to manage with this." 

Sam raised an eyebrow, excited. "You a big archer?"

"Well--" you swung the bow and quiver on smoothly as you started going through the food, Sam again trying not to stare at your ass "when I need to be, yes. And we've both got knives and ropes, so hopefully this'll do. I'll bring the smaller first aid kit as well." You zipped it and some beef jerky and trail mix into your jacket pocket, retying it tighter around your waist, and straightened. "All we need now is some waters. Are you all set?" You asked Sam, and he nodded with the cigarette between his teeth, putting some of the food into his own pockets and strapping on a knife and a rope. "I'm ready."

"Hey Nate," Sully started speaking into the walkie-talkie. 

"Hey Sully! How ya feeling?"

"I've been better, kiddo. But nothing I can't handle. I'll be damned if a little ICE-rock is enough to kill me." 

Nate laughed. "I figured."

"No, you didn't. You thought I was dead." 

"Nonsense. Stop laughing at me, Jonah, I was NOT panicking--"

"You were like a nervous housewife, Nathan--" Jonah laughingly said in the background. 

"NO I WASN'T--THEM'S FIGHTING WORDS, JONAH--"

"As cute as that is, Nathan, I'm supposed to tell you that Sam and Y/N are headed your way. Leaving now, so it'll probably be about five hours or so." 

"Just in time for sweet Nathan to have dinner ready, then," Jonah teased. You and Sam met each other's gaze as you both giggled quietly, feeling like kids at a sleepover as Nathan squawked in protest. 

"I might kill Jonah before you get here. Or poison him with said dinner."

"Nah, I'LL make the dinner. Ceviche. I bet I can find some great herbs around here." 

"So you WILL be poisoning us, then."

"Nate!" Sully groaned despite a smile. "The point is, they insisted on me keeping the walkie so I can call for help, but they've got earpieces so they can hear everything we're saying. Only had one walkie, so it's the only way to go."

"'They' insisted?" Sam scoffed. "I was fine with leaving you alone out here, Victor--"

"Okay, sounds like a plan," Nathan laughed, inadvertently interrupting his older brother. "That's what we did with Lara, too, so she's listening wherever she is." "Hey Lara!" Jonah called out. Nate laughed again. "Be careful out there, you guys."

"We will," you and Sam both instinctively said, even though you weren't on the walkie, and you both gave sheepish smiles to each other before picking up water bottles and turning to leave. 

"Victor--"

"I'll be FINE, sweetheart," Sully said--this time just because he enjoyed making Sam jealous. And it had worked again; Sam touched your arm to take your attention back, saying "let's go, Y/N" before giving Sullivan a baleful look goodbye. "We got some walkin' to do."


	10. Chapter 10

Three and a half hours later, it was hot, sticky--and fun. You and Sam had been climbing, mud-sliding, branch-swinging, and roping your way up and over and through cliffs and brambles, and even though it might not have been EVERYONE's idea of a good time, it was Sam's and yours. You'd both been talking a lot, in an effort to avoid the jungle's creepy silence, and Sam had ended up sharing the Avery story with you. This had involved several pirate jokes, which you found absolutely hilarious--and once Sam found out that they made you crack up, he'd been telling them the whole time. It was more than you'd laughed in your entire life. 

Sam, for his part, was having a blast too. His brother wasn't dead, HE wasn't dead, and he was playing Tarzan with a beautiful girl who thought he was funny. AND who could rope as well as he could. Well, almost. He couldn't help it if he got a thrill from showing you how to do it on one particularly difficult hook, and showing you how to flick your wrist the right way. Sam liked teaching people things. 

"You know, you'd have made a good teacher," you said after that, your tone complimentary and thoughtful. He grinned, flattered but surprised. "Yeah?"

"Yeah." You smiled at him before continuing walking, already looking ahead to see where to jump to next. "You explain things well, with a simple style and common sense, and you don't take it too seriously. Students always love teachers like that."

Sam was silent for a full minute after that; you glanced at him to see if he was okay, and saw that he was grinning. Actually, beaming to himself with pride. Your mouth twitched a little at seeing the boyishly-excited expression and kept going forward. 

There was less than an hour left of travel when a branch gave out while you were mid-swing over a deep blue pond. "Y/N!" you heard Sam call after you as you resurfaced, soaked "you okay?" 

"I'm fine," you called back to him up above. "Let me just get my rope." 

You dove under again, swimming to catch up to the still-sinking branch. You'd just finished untying the rope and heading back up when something wrapped around you out of nowhere, quickly and viciously, and you felt teeth biting into your left forearm. The light shifted as you struggled, completely taken by surprise, and you saw that it was a large moray eel. Panicked, you felt for your knife, frantically struggling to grab it. 

The splashes reached the surface, and that was all it took for Sam to get scared. "Y/N!" he dove in from the cliff, swimming underwater to where you were, and couldn't help a muffled exclamation when he saw that you were being attacked by an eel of all things. Sam had never even SEEN an eel before, but he could see that the eel had wrapped around your torso, blocking access to the knife, and you were focusing on trying to frantically dislodge its jaw from your arm before your air ran out. Quickly, Sam pulled out his own knife; it only took a few ferocious stabs for the eel to relent, sinking to the bottom in a cloud of blood, while the two of you ascended. 

"Holy SHIT," Sam gasped out, pulling you to shore even though you were actually swimming by yourself. You crawled out of the water rapidly, both of you breathing heavily, and only when he saw that you were sitting up did he remove his hands from your now-dripping waist. "You okay?!" 

"Yeah," you panted, "thank you, Sam, you saved my life--"

"Anytime. That's one for the books," he laughed weakly, "who the hell even knew there were eels in Peru--or that they DID that--are they venomous?" he looked panicked again, but you shook your head. "No, I don't think so. Not ones that size. Smaller ones, maybe. I think it was just hungry." You gingerly held up your arm and poked at it, investigating the angry bloody bite marks. "Here, the first aid's in--thank you." Sam was already forgoing propriety and reaching into the jacket pocket near your ass to get out the kit. 

"Hold on, I'll do it," he said surprisingly firmly as you'd lifted your right hand to take the wipes. He took your arm delicately and started dabbing at the wound, wincing as he did so as if he were the one hurting. All you let out was a tiny whimper of pain, making him say "Sorry, princess, sorry--" and not even notice his use of the new pet name. You did, though, and it was enough to distract you and make you watch his face as he worked. "Okay, maybe a good doctor, too," you laughed wetly. Sam raised an eyebrow. "What, a doctor AND a teacher? I'm gonna be a busy guy." 

Your eyes met as he finished with the bandage now, and Sam kept his hands on your arm for a second. He wanted to tell you to...that...well, that he'd worried about you just now. Instead, he coughed and started helping you up. "You good?"

"Yeah," you smiled "I'm good. Now," you nodded up to the cliff "how are we gonna get back up there?"


	11. Chapter 11

The night had been an easy one, filled with witty banter between the boys and delicious food from Jonah. Lara had come back--and you'd been pleasantly surprised to find that she had not only overheard the conversation about Sully through her earpiece, but had actually trekked far enough ahead to find someone living on the outskirts and get the order in for the older man's rescue. It was one less thing to do in the morning, and it had been clear from the man's voice over the walkie that he was actually pretty relieved to have someone coming to get him. It must not have been fun out there by himself. 

Now everyone was sitting around the fire in various positions, eating the last of the ceviche, and Nathan and Sam were telling Jonah a story while you and Lara lounged against a log like lionesses overlooking their antics. Or at least, that's what SAM thought you looked like. You were insanely elegant to him even when you barely moved--even with a bandaged arm and some roughed-up clothes. He felt like a cave-man next to you. 

"Your arm hurt?" he asked after a lull in the conversation. It was a little sore, but you lied. "I'm all right. Thank you, though." Sam narrowed his eyes, and you laughed a little. "It's just a little sore, Sam, nothing I can't handle." 

"She's been through much worse," Lara offered cheerily, looking at you innocently even though you both knew that every injury had either been due to her or Sophie or both of them. 

"Like what?" Sam asked, curious. Nate scooted forward. "Ooooh, I love talking war wounds! Jonah here had a parasite in his arm we had to cut out this morning." Lara looked at Jonah, concerned. "You all right?" she asked, and Jonah smiled. "Yeah. Hurt like a bitch, though. No thanks to this guy here."

"Hey! I'm the one who GOT it out, remember?"

"Yeah, WITH A KNIFE--"

"Well, I've been gutshot," Nate said happily, "and so has Sam."

"Me too," you said, making them blink in surprise. "Really?" Nathan asked. "What asshole would shoot a GIRL in the stomach?"

"To be fair, Lara stabbed him in the neck and watched him bleed out in return," you said lightly. Nathan paled and glanced at Lara. "Ooookay, point taken," he laughed nervously. 

Jonah chuckled and patted Nathan on the back. "Don't worry, these girls don't bite unless you piss them off. And by 'piss off', I mean steal their treasure. Guy was clearly asking for it." 

"If I remember correctly, Lara," you said sardonically, stretching out more and making Sam's eyes widen "I was shot because a certain SOMEONE was shooting up an old Siberian gulag to stop Trinity, and their soldiers were simply retaliating."

"Pfft." Lara waved the truth away. "Nonsense. They totally started it. And you healed fine after a couple months." 

You scoffed as Sam sat up straighter. "Siberia?" 

Lara started telling him the story, first of Yamatai and then Russia. The Drake brothers listened, fascinated, and you gracefully lay down to doze off at some point instead of listening. After all, you already knew the ending. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next morning everyone rose bright and early--partly due to the hard ground and jungle noises causing a lack of sleep, and partly due to a need to find Kuwaq Yaku and head out looking for the Box. It didn't take long to have a quick breakfast and freshen up, and the five of you were well on your way after only half an hour or so--you with your bow and arrows, and Lara with the same. The guns still hadn't turned up in the wreckage, so all the boys had were ropes and knives. 

Trekking through the jungle took time, and was slower going today than yesterday due to the vegetation, but Lara had already been this way and was a capable guide. With the boys chatting and telling stories, it almost felt like a hiking party instead of a serious treasure hunt. 

But it didn't take a nature expert to understand the next thing that you and Lara saw when you pulled ahead of the pack to enter a clearing: a large pool of blood, fresh, flies already buzzing around it in a hum. Too large to be from anything in this region but a big animal. And there was only one thing in Peru that could take down something that size. 

You held up a hand to make the boys stop behind you, and Sam stopped his sentence. "Y/N, what--" all three men stopped talking and froze, while you and Lara stood stock-still and listened, eyes slowly roving the clearing in separate areas. 

"Boys," you whispered, "get between the two of us, slowly." You and Lara drew your bows and nocked arrows smoothly and silently as the boys awkwardly shuffled to be in between you, all three of them looking around nervously too. A bush rustled nearby, just for a moment. "What is it?" Sam murmured in your ear, your back turned to them so that you and Lara formed a quasi-barricade. 

"Jaguar," you said grimly. 

"More than one," Lara suddenly hissed, and you knew she must have seen one on her side. 

A dog-sized capybara head fell with a 'thunk' and landed in front of you, bloody and filled with gaping holes. Everyone's eyes went to it for a second, before slowly ascending to see a jaguar up right above your head on a log. 

"Holy shit," Sam whispered. 

"Lara..." Jonah murmured. 

"Hi, fellas," Nate joked weakly as the second jaguar appeared and started circling from the other side. 

"Just stay still," Lara whispered back. 

"Y/N?" Sam asked in your ear again, seeing that you were standing still and had your eyes fixed on the jaguar above, fingers subtly tightening to ready the arrow. The howler monkeys started up in the trees, as if egging the jaguars on. 

The jaguar met your gaze and let out a fierce, menacingly slow snarl. You felt everyone behind you shrink a little and tense up rather than saw it, and let out a slow breath, collecting yourself before firming your gaze. 

"Good, Y/N?" Lara murmured, doing the same on her side and breathing out to face the other jaguar. You nodded a little. "Good." 

There was silence for a moment, the air filled with tension, and the jaguars seemed to understand it just as well as you did. They attacked at the same moment, a bunching of the muscles in their haunches the only indication of a pounce, and your arrow whipped through the air to hit one in the chest. You heard its yowl, and another from Lara's opponent, and had both already redrawn your bows to fire again when the jaguars regrouped and started striking. With an expert dodge, you shot one again before doing a spin and shooting Lara's as a bonus, just before it went for her carotid. She turned to shoot yours in turn, both of you switching targets and your old pirouetting skills coming in handy, as the two of you did a lightning-fast violent dance of arrows and fur and cat screams. 

Within a minute, the jaguars were dead, Lara panting, the boys speechless, and you briskly shaking off the experience and putting your bow away. "Right then," you said quietly. "Everyone all right?" 

Lara nodded, and the boys nodded after you stared at them for a response. "Off we go then," you said, turning to talk to Lara as you went. "Good teamwork." Lara nodded and grinned, and you looked ahead rather bashfully. You WERE an undeniably good team in combat--actually, a great one--and always worked well when you were together, despite the bigger situations. You didn't particularly like being reminded of that; it was more fuel for Lara's campaign to recruit you permanently.


	12. Chapter 12

It was another two hours later when the band of adventurers made their way down towards a clearing, hearing faint music emanating from a cluster of ramshackle buildings. As they rounded the bend, the view expanded to show an entire makeshift town, the people down below bustling back and forth busily like ants. 

"Kuwaq Yaku," you breathed, all of you a little out of breath from the hike, "we made it." 

"Where do you think they've got Sully?" Nathan asked. 

"He's staying with someone named Abby," Lara said brightly, already starting down to join in the fray. You lingered back, letting the others go first--but Sam deliberately lingered with you. 

"Everything all right?" he asked, eyeing you raptly. It was crazy how he looked at you like that, you thought: like you were the only thing in the world and he was entirely focused on your face. For once, you genuinely felt like you were listened to, like YOU were the center of attention. With sisters like yours, that hadn't come around very often. Maybe you'd missed it more than you'd realized...

"Y-yes, fine," you said faintly, but politely, and gave him a smile. He relaxed a little, but the tension still didn't entirely go out of his eyes. "You're not suddenly being hit by a super-slow-setting-eel-venom, are you?" he asked, only half-joking as he raised an eyebrow. You heard yourself giggle, surprised at the sound, and his eyes widened as his grin grew. 

You shook your head. "No, I'm all right, or at least, I don't think so," you laughed--and you felt yourself gently touch his arm as you walked past to join the others. 

Sam felt his heartbeat quicken upon hearing your posh, pretty little accent--and he felt his heart absolutely JOLT when you touched him. 

(Jesus fucking Christ, she touched me--) he thought to himself a little giddily--and he couldn't help a small little "heh" of a laugh from escaping as he followed. 

It only took a few moments to find Abby--the only B and B in town was her place, after all--and Nate was quick to find Sully lounging nearby and give him a hug. Judging by the grizzled old-timers he was hanging out with, he was having a devil of a good time in his recuperation--even though he was audibly complaining about his desire for a beer instead of the water he'd been saddled with. 

"What's that accent?" Abby asked Sam curiously as the rest of you said hello. "Boston," Sam answered rather proudly--the entirety of his peripheral vision fixed on you. He really hoped you liked it...

You felt Lara stiffen when the rest of you were introduced to Abby. Even though she had great intel about a nearby temple with Mayan carvings on it, she was pretty, tattoo-laden, and mechanically-minded--all things that you knew would help her bond with Jonah. And she was interested, clearly, judging by her instant efforts to chat with him and get him alone. Lara opened her mouth to chime in, but you smoothly reached for her and not-so-gently guided her off to the side with the Drake brothers. 

"We'll go check out the temple that you mentioned, Abby," you said politely. "Jonah, make sure Victor doesn't drink anything other than water." 

Sully raised an eyebrow at you, but leaned back and sighed, while Jonah gave you all a friendly wave and sheepishly sat down to be flirted with. "Just don't break anything!" Abby called after the group. You could practically feel Lara growling beside you, and deliberately caught her eye to give her a warning look.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ten minutes later, the gang had made it to the temple. Nathan tripped a little on one of the stairs into it, making Sam immediately reach for him. "Easy, little brother," he said comfortably, giving his brother a pat on the back "remember that walking thing? Right, left, right, left?" 

Nathan chuckled. "Yeah, yeah. Looks a lot bigger on the outside," he cheerfully remarked as you all reached the entrance and started going in. 

"Y/N, look," Lara said, up at the front of the pack now as you (and, automatically, Sam) loitered closer to the entrance and cautiously looked around. Everyone headed up closer to Lara, letting you through to stand next to her. There were two small carvings exposed in the wall's mural. 

"Ix Chel and Chak Chel...the Twins come together," Lara translated, rapt with fascination, jealousy temporarily forgotten. 

"Well, congratulations Nathan," Sam rapped his brother's arm lightly to get his attention. "You've had twins." Nathan laughed at the joke, as only a worshipful little-brother could, and Sam preened at his brother's praise. "So," he said casually, his accent stronger again now that the group was alone and it wouldn't seem so conspicuous. "Now what?"

The question was punctuated by Lara's abrupt raising of her pickaxe. "Lara, don't--" you finished your protest with a resigned sigh and rubbed your forehead as she hacked away at the ancient mural to expose the rest of the hidden carving. "Abby said not to break anything." 

"I'm not breaking it," Lara chirped happily, dusting off her findings. "I'm restoring the original." She'd made a large gap in the wall, exposing a hole leading into the ground.

"Looks like this leads somewhere. Shall we?" 

"We shall," Nathan said excitedly. 

It took several minutes of climbing, roping, and boosts--during which Sam always volunteered to help you, and both of you only turned a LITTLE red at him getting to hold your body--before you'd all come out on the tunnel's other side. There was a door with the Twins on it--which Sam and Nathan easily opened, while you threw yourself off by discovering that you'd subconsciously been watching Sam's biceps flex--and the four of you stepped out onto the exposed outcropping to look out over the jungle landscape and breath the fresh air again. 

"There!" Lara said, pointing. "There's two temples, one to the left and one to the right. The Twins theme again. Jonah," she spoke into her handheld walkie talkie, "We've found the temples."

"There's two?"

"Yes. We'll have to split up. It's faster that way." 

"Wait, Lara, maybe we should--"

Explosions at both temple sites made all four of you recoil a little in surprise. It took a few seconds for the blasts' rumbles to catch up to your location, and your faces fell. 

"Damn. Trinity is already there...we don't have time." Lara's gaze was fixed on the temples, but you and the boys exchanged apprehensive glances. Sam sidled a little closer. 

"At least wait for me to catch up, Lara. I'm on my way." It was clear from Jonah's entreating response that he was familiar with Lara's tendency to push on ahead solo--but for once, she listened. "Okay. It's just a straight shot through the passages. We're right at the other end." 

Perhaps we have Abby to thank for that, you faintly mused.

"While he's catching up, why don't we take a breather," Sam suggested, hopping down into the clearing below. The three of you followed, Lara looking back at the tunnel before she jumped.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The wait would only be a few minutes, but you knew that Lara was chomping at the bit, and suggested some snacking as a distraction. Nate was quick to pass out some small sandwiches and bags of fruit, which you took gratefully, and the two of them backed off while Sam had a smoke. 

Lara's fidgeting was continuing, despite her snack, and it wasn't until she started speaking that you realized it really WASN'T about the adventure.

"Do you think Jonah's actually going to hook up with that Abby girl? I mean, do you think he's going to leave me and stop helping?"

"Well, that depends on if you're ever going to give him the time of day," you said a little mischievously, quirking an eyebrow. Lara, relieved to be having a more lighthearted conversation with you, smirked back. "Oh, like you're one to talk," she teased.

You looked at her, genuinely confused, and she nodded slightly towards a spot behind you. You turned subtly and saw Sam and Nathan chatting away. Men had always been something distant for you; they hit on you constantly, so you'd developed a bit of an immunity towards their charms, and mentally swatted them away like flies. But you didn't feel bemused or mocking when you looked at Sam and thought of your travels so far together--just...thoughtful. It took your mind a second to also register that you were a little slow to turn back to Lara; you liked the sight of him, and the sound of his voice.

"Come on, I know you think he's cute," Lara murmured, and you were surprised to see nothing but empathetic earnestness in her gaze. None of the usual cocky Croft behavior was there, and you appreciated not being teased. "And he's funny--I KNOW you loved his pirate jokes--and he's smart. And he's in our BUSINESS. Why don't you give him a shot?"

You couldn't help your emotions from showing on your face, and Lara watched as you glanced away and visibly collected yourself before becoming smoothly sardonic again. "We're a little busy stopping the Mayan apocalypse," you said softly, sounding almost resigned, and started to turn away.

"But Y/N, we might actually FAIL this time," Lara suddenly protested, and you sensed that she'd been loud enough for Sam and Nathan to perk up a little. She lowered her voice again and whispered, "If the apocalypse IS coming...wouldn't you rather have someone to spend it with?"

You considered her, genuinely not having a response, and Lara knew you well enough to know that that was actually a yes.

"I...I don't--" you looked away, clearly a little exasperated with yourself and struggling to overcome your pride. Lara waited, patiently for once. He WAS cute...and you DID like being around him...You swallowed hard and grudgingly whispered back, "how would I even ask him for...anything like that?"

Lara smiled a little patronizingly. "Oh, Y/N," she said knowingly, "TRUST me. You will literally not have to do ANYTHING but start the question. The man's not stupid, and he's not blind either. He will DEFINITELY be on board--and believe me, I mean for ANYTHING you want. Like, anything."

You couldn't help looking embarrassed; you never really talked much with your sister about your sex life. Partly due to the physical distance between you, and partly because you'd rarely HAD any experiences. Only a few back when you were nineteen or so and still reacting to hormones and the men lusting over you. You might have been dressed like a James Bond femme fatale when you met the boys a few days ago in New Orleans, but it was just a bluff; you were, you figured, the most inexperienced of your siblings sexually. A fact you did NOT feel like sharing. This was already almost too much romantic conversation for you to handle.

Sam, meanwhile, was smoking his cigarette and talking to Nathan and pretending NOT to watch you--a guise that Nate didn't fall for but that he was considerate and perceptive enough to ignore. That is, until Sam threw a curveball and brought you up himself, not-so-subtly shifting his feet.

"Sooo...what d'you think the girls're talkin' about over there?" he asked, his posture the same kind of casual that he used in pickpocket situations. Again, Nate wasn't fooled.

"I'm guessing the Mayan apocalypse," he said with a smile and a shrug, trying not to laugh at his brother. "Why?"

"Just...just wondering," Sam said lightly, deliberately not looking over at you but also blatantly doing that exact thing somehow. Nate grinned knowingly and bumped his brother's arm. "Hey, just go TALK to her. She's nice--and she liked your pirate jokes."

"Yeah, she's also insanely HOT, Nathan," Sam said patronizingly, as if teaching his brother an obvious lesson in class. "I'm not exactly in perfect form today, and I'd rather be...you know, wearing my tux or somethin' if I'm gonna make a pass at her. And what if she doesn't even GET my flirting? What if she doesn't pick up what I put down?"

"Sam, relax," Nate murmured laughingly. "I think she DOES like you. Or at the very least, hanging out with you--and come on, the great Sam Drake can certainly charm a girl who already likes him as a general HUMAN."

"A girl who looks like THAT?" Sam gestured over to where you were standing. "I'm flattered, little brother, but you might be givin' me too much credit."

"Sam, I'm NOT," Nate laughed. "Look, just try. The worst she can do is say no."

"Yeah, and bruise my ego forever," Sam muttered. "But you're right. Maybe we can...I don't know, split up or somethin' so I can go somewhere with her." He shrugged self-deprecatingly. "Feel like my game'll be better without an audience."

"Good idea." Nate gave him a neck squeeze. "I'll get Lara and we'll work out a plan. After all, we've got TWO temples to check out."

"You'll be careful if we split up though, right?" Sam asked, suddenly entirely focused on Nathan. "I'm not really crazy about leaving you alone."

"Yeah, me neither," Nathan responded. "But I'll have Lara and Jonah with me--and I don't know if you remember a certain incident with the jaguars this morning, but I think Lara can take care of any Trinity soldiers that get in our way, just like Y/N can. And Jonah's a good bodyguard, too." He abruptly pulled Sam into a hug, recognizing their mutual reluctance to be split up. "We'll be fine. Just use your walkie talkie to call me once in a while and tell me how it's going, okay?" His flirtatious look made it obvious that he didn't mean the treasure hunt. 

Sam laughed, shoulders lowering as he relaxed and his smile growing as he got excited. "You got it." His gaze moved to you again as he took a drag on his cigarette. "All right, Nathan...wish me luck."


	14. Chapter 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Because I have a busy weekend ahead of me and you guys really seemed to want more. :) If I can whip up another chapter late late tonight, before the busy-ness begins, I will! Thank you all so much for reading and commenting; it really makes my day!

"All right girls," Nathan said suddenly, making you and Lara stop your conversation and turn mid-word. "Looks like we're splitting up, right? Seems best if one of you goes with each of us, since, you know, you two know the legend." His smile was perfectly friendly and innocent, but you couldn't help noticing that the Sam Drake behind him was turning a deep shade of red and studiously examining the trees around him instead of looking your way. 

Nathan, sensing that his brother might be breaking their cover, opened his arms wide like a showman and gestured towards the temples, deliberately obstructing your vision of his older sibling. "Y/N, you feeling Ix Chel or Chak Chel today?" 

You laughed, giving Lara a glance before turning and surveying the two temples in the distance up on the mountain ahead. "Chak Chel," you said decidedly. It looked like it had more cliffs than waterways--and after the eel situation, you weren't entirely keen on jumping back in. 

"All right. Sam will go with you, I'll help Jonah cover Lara in whatever chaos she manages to cause." Nathan gave her a mischievous wink, just as Jonah hopped down behind him. Sam jolted, startled out of his faux-botanist-routine. "Talking smack about me, Nathan?" Jonah asked with a laugh, and you watched Lara's smile grow out of the corner of your eye as he arrived. 

"Of course!" Nate joked. "You and I are heading over to the Ix Chel temple with Lara; Sam and Y/N have Chak Chel."

"Sounds like a plan." Jonah may have known Nathan had a girlfriend, but it was obvious that he'd still rather be keeping tabs on the friendly man's behavior. You felt the urge to use telepathy and tell Jonah he had nothing to worry about, if only to ease his mind a little bit more. 

"Sam," Nathan said, tapping his brother on the chest with the back of his hand and giving him a significant look that the rest of you couldn't see "you good?"

"Y-yeah." Sam rolled his shoulders and met Nathan's supportive gaze before tossing his cigarette and stepping forward. "Okay," Nate said briskly, "looks like we're headed this way. Stay in radio contact."

You and Sam nodded absently as he walked towards you and the others vanished around a bend to the left. 

You smiled at him, remembering Lara's suggestion and determinedly willing yourself to avoid blushing. Now that you and your sister had been talking about it, you were having a hard time removing romantic concepts from your mind. 

Then Sam smirked at you, his Boston accent as strong and smooth as whiskey. "You ready, princess?" 

And you heard yourself giggling again. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next fifteen minutes were stressful ones--partly because the howler monkeys were back, and partly because Sam just. kept. touching you. It was little brushes of his hand here, a lifting of a log for you there--and he kept calling you princess. You didn't know where THAT had come from--and to be honest, neither did Sam--but if your giggles and his proudly-puffed chest were anything to go by, it wasn't going to be stopping anytime soon. 

Sam held up another log for you -- "heeeeere ya go, princess--" and you turned around after ducking through to help him lower it back down, not realizing your mistake. The small space had brought you closer together, and you could feel Sam's hazel gaze...

Another rough roar sounded up above you, and you both jumped. "GodDAMMIT," Sam swore, visibly trying to shake off his fright, "I really hate those monkeys." 

"Yeah," you said, putting a hand on your chest in a futile attempt to slow your heart, "me too." 

"FUCK those monkeys," Sam suddenly said, and you glanced at him, surprised to see a slowly spreading smile on his face. You felt one of your own, and managed to blurt out "Yes. F-FUCK the monkeys."

There was a moment of silence before you both burst into laughter. "J-jesus, Y/N," Sam breathed between laughs "with your accent that's just--t-TOO FUNNY--"

Another explosion sounded then, and Sam had you on the ground under one of his arms before you' d even realized what had happened. Faces grim--and definitely NOT turning redder--you both slowly stood up again. Sam stepped forward through the clearing to peek ahead around a bend, then gestured for you to follow.

"Looks like a cliff drop here," he said. "Water looks deep enough though." 

Your hesitation was well-hidden, you thought, but Sam read the tremulous little quiver of your mouth like a book. "It's okay, princess," he said, gesturing to himself proudly. "I gotcha. Look, I'll even go in first, aright?" 

You nodded with a sheepish smile and watched him jump, then waited for him to surface and give you a thumbs up before jumping down.

The water felt cool and refreshing as you dove, surfacing and running your fingers through your hair to smooth it back--opening your eyes just in time to catch Sam's rapt focus on your face. Then there was movement behind you, making Sam's face darken, and he abruptly pulled you to the side back against the cliff face. "Get back," he whispered. You turned your head a little to see what he saw: a caravan of large trucks, emblazoned with Trinity symbols on the sides, heading over a bridge. 

"Jesus, who ARE these guys?" Sam said, actually sounding a little stressed. You were a little too busy noticing that one of his hands was underwater just near your waist. "I mean, how many rent-a-thugs do they HAVE?"

His distraction allowed you to collect yourself, turning to face the bridge just like he was. "I don't know. At least a few thousand when we--when Lara" you corrected yourself "first started. But she's brought their numbers down quite a bit." 

"Hell of a family you got there, Y/N," Sam said as the two of you waded ahead, eyes forward for any enemies. Something in his tone told you it was both a sympathetic statement and a compliment. 

You laughed feebly. "I guess so." 

"Hey." He touched your arm from behind you, making your throat tighten instinctively before you turned to look at him. "What is it?" 

He tilted his head to the right, where the river narrowed. "Let's get out over there, huh?"

You nodded. "All right." 

The water dripped from both of your sets of clothes for a while, but uncomfortably-damp clothes soon became the least of your problems. Sam had moved ahead again, in a macho move that would have made Lara snarl--but that made YOUR insides virtually turn to jelly. It was NICE to be taken care of. And being called princess helped, too. 

"There's a road," Sam suddenly hissed, holding out a hand to make you stop behind him. You'd been close--being close to him felt like something you couldn't control now, since you knew how much you liked being around him--so you bumped into him a little bit, making Sam's cheeks turn red again despite the danger. 

"Let's check it out," you murmured, trying to cover the awkward moment. There was a slight mudslide down, landing you both swiftly at the dirt road's edge, and you lifted your head up a little to look to the right--just before Sam suddenly yanked you back down. "Shit. Trinity--" he whispered. The soldiers had somehow gotten one of their tanks--"Really, guys? TANKS?" Sam muttered balefully--stuck on an old bridge, and were in the processing of keeping guard while mechanics tried to get it out. The two of you looked left, seeing that the way was clear, and a thought came to your mind.

"I'll take left," you whispered, nodding in the direction, "you take right." There were tall grasses on Sam's side, giving him plenty of cover to take out the guards silently--but yours...

You leaned forward a little and started scooping up mud, layering it quickly over your arms, face, neck and hands. "What are you doing?" Sam hissed worriedly, confused, but you gestured to the right again. "Go; meet at the tank!"

Sam didn't start moving until he saw you somersault across the road to the dark brown mud cliff on the other side--and, seeing that you were seamlessly blending in, he grudgingly started his own task. Two minutes later, you'd taken out the men on your side in chokeholds, one by one, while he'd done the same. As you met up at the tank, you watched Sam burst out of the grass and take down the last man with one strong right hook, knocking him out completely. 

"Nice hook," you couldn't help whispering as the two of you huddled behind the vehicle. "Heh. Thanks," he said with a little smile, still looking around but unable to avoid feeling the flush in his cheeks. Maybe HE should put some mud on, he thought for a second--but then more soldiers started coming from the other side. 

"We have to go under," Sam murmured, touching your side to check in with you. You nodded quickly and started army-crawling with him under the tank, looking like a female Rambo covered in mud. 

"Wait, wait," Sam said, holding your arm about halfway through. One of the tank's doors had opened, and two heavily-armed soldiers thumped to the ground. You stared at their combat boots, just inches from your face, and felt Sam's comforting hand on your shoulder as you both held your breath. 

It felt like an hour before the men started stepping away; "Jesus," Sam whispered, "who are THOSE guys?"

"Deacons," you whispered back grimly. "The elite in Trinity. They have shotguns, Sam--"

"Okay, let's take 'em out last," he murmured, looking around again before signaling you forward. "Good thing we're skinny, huh?" he joked quietly as you neared the tank's end. You let him see your smile before returning your attention to the guards' feet right in front of you. 

"We can take them," you whispered, seeing that the Deacons were farther away. "Right." Sam nodded, then slid out from under the tank. It took only a spinning high kick from you and a chokehold from him to take the two last guards out--not counting the two Deacons. 

"Dave? Sammy?" One of them called, coming around the tank's corner to look for the two now-unconscious men. "Where the hell are those guys.."

You stood up abruptly and whacked him straight across the face with your bow, turning to drag the body and seeing a thoroughly gobsmacked Sam. "What?"

Sam closed his mouth. "Nothing. Just-Jesus, remind me not to piss YOU off."

The last Deacon saw you then, and raced forward, but not before you ducked his first blow. His armor made your smaller size and slender build a liability, and he'd already knocked you onto the ground and starting holding you down before Sam could get a good choke-grip on him. 

"Phew," Sam panted when the man finally passed out, "you okay?"

You nodded, also breathless, and took his hand with a small grin. "Thanks." 

"Anytime, princess." He gave you a wink, surprising himself with his own coolness for a moment--but then another howler monkey sounded off to the right, and you both jumped again. 

Feeling his blush come back, Sam threw the moving tree-leaves a vindictive look. Stupd monkeys, he thought bitterly. 

"Let's grab some of their ammunition and keep going, shall we?" You asked brightly, dusting yourself off a little. The futile gesture made Sam laugh, and you looked up. "What?" 

 

"Y/N," he chuckled, "you're absolutely COVERED in mud."

Your eyes widened in realization, and you looked down at yourself sheepishly. "So much for being prim and proper, huh," you sighed with a laugh. 

Sam ran his finger along your upper arm, taking some of the mud off in a flimsy excuse to touch you, and your eyes met for another second in limbo before he swallowed and ran the clean hand through his hair. "Too bad the river came first, then, I guess."

"Yeah," you laughed, relieved to have the moment pass--but as the two of you started climbing and moving forward again, you coulnd't help waiting for the next one.


	16. Chapter 16

"So tell me," Sam started talking again only a few moments later, having helped you up a cliff in good spirits. His hand lingered on your back, just for a second, but it was enough to make you grateful for the blush-covering mud. For what must've been the thirtieth time today, you gave yourself a mental shake, unsettled by what he was doing to you. You were never LIKE this with guys. Samuel Drake was throwing you off your game...

Now, Sam continued his question. "That whole mud thing," he gestured vaguely at your whole body with a boyishly-curious smile, "that somethin' from Lara, or your bookworm sister maybe? Or maybe just from watching Rambo...?" he asked, snapping his fingers and raising a mischievous eyebrow. 

You laughed and shook your head as the two of you entered a cavern. "Just came up with it in the moment," you said lightly, looking around the new space as you walked. "At least--" you turned back to him, still walking, and held up a jokingly-firm finger "that's what we're sticking with for our story. I can't let Lara know that I used one of her tricks."

Sam looked pleased to be sharing a secret, and let out a light-hearted scoff as he moved to light a torch. "She's big on the recruiting thing, huh.," he said almost sympathetically. You shrugged. "Only for the last dozen years." 

"Y'know," he said tentatively, as the two of you progressed further into the cavern, "you're pretty good at this whole" he gestured vaguely again "killing, treasure-hunting thing." 

"I'm a quick study," you said ruefully--right before a flurry of bats flew into your face, filling the air with a staccato blend of wing-flaps and squeaks. "JEsus!" Sam swore right behind you, both of you crouching down and flinching. You rose tentatively, meeting each others' eyes, and he laughed. "You and I...are not the bravest nature reporters," he laughed. You felt your admiration grow again; most men would stubbornly refuse to admit to their fear. Sam had this uncanny ability to laugh his weaknesses off. 

Not that they even WERE substantial weaknesses, you thought as you laughed; judging by what you'd seen of Sam so far, of his fortitude in the plane crash and his protective, self-sacrificial little ways of caring for his brother, you'd say that Samuel Drake was actually one of the strongest people you'd met.

"Yeah," you laughed now, "no National Geographic special for us."

"Ha. Can you imagine if we had one? Hey-y'know what really used to scare me, from those shows?" Sam said cheerfully, stepping ahead with the torch and a perky, jokingly-cowboy-style 'ma'am' as he passed by, brushing against you in the close quarters. You looked at him, letting your eyes ask the implied question and willing down that blush again, and he kept going. "Komodo dragons."

"Oooh," you said, clambering up a small incline right behind him, the end of the cavern near "good one."

"Right? They got the Crocodile Hunter up in a tree every time. And it's not even like he was HUNTING them! Like, heads up komodos! The clue is in his NAME!" You cracked up at that, making Sam slow down and turn to enjoy the effect on his audience. Even here, in this dark, orange-lit cavern, slathered in mud, he was fascinated by your giggle.

Chuckling with pride, he reached down a hand to lift you further up. You took it gratefully, marveling again at the feeling of your full, genuinely natural smile stretching across your face as you were heaved upwards. "Thanks," you breathed, taking his wrist with both hands for further leverage as you were pulled to the top. Sam beamed. 

(She's holding my hand)

"Y'know," he said as soon as you let go, the sunlight from just outside highlighting his muscular shoulders and figure "this is fun. We should do this again sometime--y'know, if we don't all go up in a whirlwind of apocalyptic flames." He finished his sentence in a faintly-joking hurry, seeing in your eyes that you'd recognized the implication of a date and panicking that he'd gone too far too quickly. 

The torchlight lit up Sam's face enough for you to see his relaxed, happy smile as he'd pulled you up--and enough to see it falter when his enjoyment made him accidentally voice an invitation. You felt your own smile--now at his adorable nervousness, instead of his jokes--and response both rise up inside of you immediately, like a wave that you couldn't hold back from a swift crash. 

"Sure" Sam's smile immediately started growing back at your happy response "this IS fun." You stepped around him, deliberately looking ahead to take the pressure off--but behind you, a certain Samuel Drake was doing a tiny little fist-pump.


	17. Chapter 17

Seconds later, a pile of thick branches blocked the tauntingly-close exit and Sam whistled low. "Gonna have to clear that debris somehow," he mused. "Just our luck, ah?" 

You smiled. "Not exactly. Let me see your torch?" 

The urge to make an innuendo-laced joke about his 'torch' was only barely clamped down by Sam's lips as he proffered the light. "What?" you asked, seeing him bite back a particularly-strong smile. Sam shook his head. "Nothin'." 

"I admire your restraint," you said snidely, surprising both Sam and yourself with the impishly-knowing comment. Sam's eyes widened in pleasure, and he stared as you took the torch and lit an arrow. 

(She gets my jokes)

(Even when I don't SAY them)

The flaming arrow temporarily distracted him from his excited reverie. "Y/N, what--"

You nocked the arrow quickly, before its flame could expand or go out, and fired. "Ah," Sam said, watching the debris burn, "a cozy fire. Nice shootin'." 

"Thank you," you chirped brightly, putting the bow back on and starting forward. "Not that the cavern hasn't been a bundle of fun, but let's see where this goes." 

Sam laughed as he stepped out into the sunlit-jungle with you. "You're funny, y'know that?" he said warmly, making you tremulously meet his open, admiring gaze. He blushed. "I just, I mean--you were quieter when we first met, but you've got a good sense of humor!"

"You're just saying that because it matches yours," you said with another laugh, willing yourself not to look away. It was still a little strange and disorienting to be the center of attention like this...to be one person's whole focus. And Sam was looking at you so happily...so affectionately--

Gunshots rang out, and you both jumped. "Stay away! Stay the fuck away from me!" someone cried. Sam ushered you off to the right in a crouch, and the two of you knelt down to look between some branches. Trinity soldiers were set up on patrol in a clearing--but they were all currently surrounding one of their own, a clearly distraught soldier who didn't seem to recognize his own team. 

"Easy, easy," another soldier was saying, hands up in a calming gesture. "You're okay now. What happened?"

"They were just...bones," the scared soldier stammered; you and Sam gave each other an uneasy look "screaming. So--so fast..."

"That's helpful," another soldier scoffed, close to you. Sam tugged you a little farther back. 

"A little compassion," the second soldier chided, and the nearest soldier grudgingly stopped complaining. "It's all right. You're safe." The other soldiers disbanded to their posts, clearly discomfited by the new arrival's panic, while the lead soldier stayed with him. "You okay now?"

"Y-yeah." The soldier nodded, receiving a pat on the back before nervously straightening and going back on alert. 

"Jesus," Sam whispered, "what the fuck d'you think they were talkin' about?" 

"I don't know," you said grimly, eyes thoughtful as you surveyed the area "but it might be the Pishtaco. Legendary guardians of the Box."

"Terrifying, scary, bony and deadly?" Sam asked reluctantly. You nodded. "Sounds about right." 

"Shit. Great. Well, either way we're not getting past these guys. Let's find a way around; I gotta warn Nathan." 

"Okay." You pointed up to the roof of the closest outbuilding. "Up there."

"We have to take out this guy first, though," Sam whispered. 

You glanced between the man and the trees. "I've got it."

"Y/N, what--" Sam watched, concerned, as you left him behind for a moment and climbed. He jumped when the man was suddenly shot with a rope arrow from above and yanked into the sky--and gaped when he saw you tying the man into a high-flying net of your own making. Tentatively, he looked up above the now-trapped man to see you waving to him. 

"What just happened?" he murmured disbelievingly, eyes wide as he tentatively got up and climbed to join you. 

"Come on!" you whispered, leading the way subtly across the roof to a safer section. "Let me guess," he joked, a little nervously "another one of Lara's tricks?"

"My own, actually," you answered quietly. You met his wide-eyed gaze sheepishly, looking so much like a guilty little girl that Sam couldn't help an affectionately-bewildered smile. 

"Sam?" Nathan's voice sounded from the walkie-talkie, and the two of you hustled further into the safe part of the jungle before answering. 

"Yeah, little brother, what's going on?" 

"We've got some soldiers here, looks like they were killed--SAVAGELY, by...something. Not sure what, just thought we should warn you--"

"Yeah, we've got some scared soldiers here too. Y/N thinks they have something to do with these creatures, the...'Pishtaco'."

"Wait, Y/N?" It was Lara now, over Nate's shoulder. "You really think it could be them?"

Sam held up the walkie for you. "It sounds like them. This is bad, Lara." 

"I know. Let's just try to stay out of their way."

"There is the little issue of us LITERALLY being AFTER the very Box that they're trying to protect," Sam added sarcastically--but you saw the nerves in the line of his jaw. 

"Yeah," Nate said quietly. "Let's just keep our eyes open. And hey, if you guys saw even just one survivor out of those Trinity clowns, that's a good sign right? I mean, if one of them managed to make it, WE must have a better chance." 

Sam laughed. "I like the way you think, Nathan. Talk to you soon." 

"Sam, you're supposed to say Over and Out." 

"Wha--no! I am NOT PLAYING 'Helicopter Pilots' with you again, Nathan, I got tired of playing that when you made me do it until you were fifteen!" 

"THIRTEEN!"

"NO it was definitely--"

"I hate to barge in, here," Sully suddenly said from his own mike in Kuwaq Yaku "but I do believe Nathan has made me play 'Helicopter Pilots' with him as recently as six days ago."

"That's hearsay Sully--"

"a-HEM!" Jonah coughed on Nathan and Lara's line. "As long as we keep Nathan OUT of helicopters, nobody will have to play 'Helicopter Pilot."

"It's PILOTS," Nathan muttered quietly. "'Cuz, you know, plural--TWO pilots--"

"Never mind!" Lara protested, but you could hear a laugh in there and smiled. Clearly Nate and Jonah were good for her, you thought, if she was still relaxed enough to laugh. "You two be careful, we're almost up to the Ix Chel temple now."

"Always," Sam laughed, smiling at you over the walkie before pocketing it. "Aright, Y/N," he said, abruptly pulling you in for a side-hug "c'mon, we can't let those bozos beat us to fight sasquatch-skeleton things for a fancy cutlery-tote, can we?"

You giggled, making him grin. "When you put it like that," you said, reloading your gun, "it actually doesn't sound so bad."


	18. Chapter 18

"I'm gonna have to get me one of those things," Sam chuckled a few hours later, watching you use fire arrows to burn down another obstacle. "Seems like one of the coolest ways to light a fire."

You gave him a glance and a laugh before heading in, hoping to finally find access to the waterfall the two of you had been hearing. You'd spotted the Chak Chel temple earlier, only to be yanked down onto the ground by the binocular-wielding Sam as a swath of Trinity soldiers arrived. Chak Chel was out, you'd both had to reluctantly tell Lara; all she could hope for was an opportunity to steal their piece. Fortunately, she and the boys HAD managed to find their piece of the next clue--some kind of astrolabe. 

Still talking, Sam followed you around the bend. "Where'd you two LEARN to shoot like that, anyway? Some--" he kicked and swatted a branch out of the way as he walked "fancy British boarding school?"

"Actually, yes," you admitted bashfully. "Lara took to all of that more than I did, or at least--" you waved a hand, eyes and ears still focused on finding the waterfall since this mud was getting REALLY itchy "as it pertained to treasure hunting and archaeology. I focused mainly on archery, horseback riding, swimming, gymnastics, and combat training before I started ballet, but more because I liked the physical exercise than because I planned on actually using any of it." 

"Just those." Sam laughed good-naturedly. "You slacker."

You giggled again, shrugging defensively. "We were BORED at home! Just this big, empty mansion with no one to talk to all day. Activities gave us an excuse to go hang out with kids our age, and feel normal--"

"Poor babies." You laughed at his snide comment, sensing the joke in it. "I know, I know. Champagne problems. Ah--" you sighed dramatically in relief, the sound making Sam swallow "here it is." You gestured grandly at the waterfall in front of you. 

"Sun's going down soon," Sam said. "How bout we sleep here tonight, hm?"

"Sure," you said easily, already heading for the water. "Not worried about eels this time?" Sam asked from the shore, debating going in. He really wanted to...but not because he was hot. 

You laughed. "Not enough to skip getting this mud off me." You dove, luxuriating in the experience as the cool, clean water caressed your skin. Sam meant to start setting up a little camp, and message Nathan...but instead, he stared.

The relief from the water and the exhilarating prospect of an early night had made you more confident; you ran your fingers through your hair, washing your face and arms before surfacing again closer to shore. "Come on in, Sam!" you called happily. "The water's perfect!" 

You hadn't MEANT to say it quite as an invitation, you realized faintly--upon seeing Sam take his shirt off. 

Sam could feel his heart racing, partly from the invitation and partly from nerves about how his body looked. He was normally a pretty confident guy--he worked out, he had a good physique, and he knew it. Hell, he'd lorded that over Nathan since they were kids--even if Nathan had caught up a little since then, which he still refused to acknowledge. But you were BEAUTIFUL, and sexy, and what....what if you didn't like him? 

You ducked under the water the second you started seeing Sam's skin, and mentally took a deep breath. No need to make it weird, Y/N, you thought. Just a swim...

You retreated towards the waterfall's base, deciding to treat it more like a shower and hoping that the waterfall's medium roar would cover some awkward silence. Sam stared at your back, watching you rinse out your hair. 

(Jesus,) he thought, (even fully-clothed she's--I'm--)

The thoughts of what he wanted to do made his hips start to heat, and Sam instantly forced himself underwater. (No way), he told himself. ( No fuckin' way. Don't BLOW this--)

You risked a tiny look, and saw that Sam was under. You watched his smooth-skinned, muscular figure moving under the water, suddenly feeling nervous about far more than eels. It had really been a while...and Sam just felt...DIFFERENT--

Shouts started nearby, and you nearly jumped out of your skin. Sam surfaced, close enough to touch, and his face looked happy and hopeful for a second before seeing the fear and urgency on yours. 

"Get back!" you whispered, pulling him back behind the waterfall's curtain with you and desperately trying to ignore the fact that you'd just been holding onto his naked biceps. Your arm brushed his chest--a muscular, VERY toned chest, you'd been able to guiltily-see--and you distinctly saw Sam shudder from the corner of your eye--but the two of you kept your tense gazes firmly fixed outside. 

Thankfully, Sam had left what little supplies you two had brought in a surprisingly-tidy heap under a bush; the small Trinity patrol passed right by it, making some comments about longing for a swim. 

"Hey, come on, Morgan," one said, sitting down on the shore. "Neither of us'll tell. And these uniforms are hot as shit." You and Sam stayed stock still, while Sam frantically tried to remember if he'd ever killed anyone in water...

Out of nowhere, out of his own control even, Sam felt himself grab your hand. Your fingers interlocked tightly under the surface of the water, and you gave each other a tension-filled glance, both of you fiercely pretending that it was not an entirely DIFFERENT kind of tension. 

The three soldiers stripped down and started swimming--Morgan included--sighing and diving. You bit your lip as you listened to their conversations. These were real people you were fighting, BOYS, most of whom were only doing this for a paycheck. And just like anybody, they sounded incredibly relieved and pleased to be having a waterfall swim. 

You crossed your free fingers--the others still tightly enveloped between Sam's--in the hopes that they wouldn't get curious and try to look here. Now you really DIDN'T want to kill them. 

Sam's jaw twitched, his eyes narrow as one of them got closer. If they tried to hurt you...

"Hey!" All five of you jumped. Another soldier had arrived, a lieutenant. "The fuck are you three doing?! Rourke'll have your HIDES if he catches you in this!" 

"Shit. Sorry," Morgan apologized as the three of them reluctantly got out and got dressed. 

"Still," one of them murmured, looking back at the waterfall one last time, "was nice while it lasted."

It was a full five minutes before Sam whispered. "Y/N." You were still looking through the water, swallowing hard. "Y/N," he tried again, a little louder, and you blinked, turning wide-eyed to look at him. His gaze softened.

"They're gone."

You sighed, both of you releasing each other's hands and both refusing to acknowledge said hand-holding had happened. "Phew," you said quietly, with a weak smile "that was a close one."

"Tell me about it." 

"Well, there were these guys, and--"

Sam, who had been starting to leave, stopped in place and looked at you, a bemused smile on his face. Your smile came back then. "Sorry. Silly joke." 

"No, I--I liked it," he laughed, ending his sentence surprisingly earnestly. Your eyes met again--

And another howler monkey let out a guttural roar above you, making you both hightail it out of the water. "Goddammit," Sam swore, for more reasons than one, "if those fuckers aren't endangered I vote we go on a hunting trip later." 

He quickly wondered if he'd gone too far--but then you giggled, as usual, and Sam's crush only grew.


	19. Chapter 19

"OKAY," Sam panted as he swatted away a branch harder than necessary, "I am SO done with this jungle."

"Me too," you panted back, stopping with your hands on your hips as you entered the clearing. As planned, the others had all caught up there. 

"Heyyy! You made it!" Nathan gave his big brother a happy pat on the back as the two of you arrived, while Lara and Jonah came over closer. You started fixing up your hair, redoing the French braid while Jonah smiled at you. "How'd the morning go?"

"Fine," you said breezily, you and Sam both still a little out of breath. "No sightings of Trinity soldiers though. Maybe they know something we don't."

"Orrrrr they're avoiding the Pishtaco," Lara said ominously, looking around. You weren't really surprised that she hadn't acted thrilled and relieved to see you like Nathan had for Sam; Lara tended to get a little focused on her missions, and take the other people for granted. You brushed off the slight--almost. It was just like having a porcupine for a sister, you always told yourself, and this was just another barb. 

"We're just about ready to keep going," Jonah said. "Nathan found a clue that points northward, to an old mine entrance in the bigger range of mountains."

"More good news," Sam said sardonically, the two of you sharing a commiserating and long-suffering glance. He was happy to see his little brother, of course, but also a little disappointed to stop his solo chances at seeing YOU. And you'd realized somewhere in the last few hours that you felt the same. 

"Anyway," Jonah said with a laugh, "Abby'll be right back so then we can--"

"Abby?" you asked, surprised. You glanced at Lara, whose shoulders were tight, and recognized her bad mood. Abby had somehow started tagging along, and Lara was jealous. 

Jonah's expression was friendly and innocent. "Yeah, we'd been keeping her updated and she had some good insights, so she met up with us here. She's just scouting one of those trails off to the left--"

Something sharpened in you then, a kind of tension that you hadn't even been noticing until this moment. You innately stiffened, and Sam immediately sensed it. He stepped over closer, brow furrowed and eyes focused. "Y/N? What's the matter?"

"Lara," you said slowly, speaking carefully and quietly. The others stepped closer to listen. "didn't you say that you tried to save a archaeologist back in Mexico right before he was captured?"

Lara looked at you uneasily just like the others. "Yeah..."

"And," you swallowed hard, trying to remain calm "didn't you say that he'd mentioned something about hoping they didn't get his SISTER, too?"

"Yeah..." 

You sighed grimly. "Well," you drew your gun, reloading it quickly and watching the underbrush tensely, "I think they did."

Lara's eyes suddenly widened. "Oh, no--"

The bushes rustled from nearby, Abby's baseball cap coming into your sight, and you had to make the decision. You swiftly lifted your gun, aiming it right at her, and felt Sam catch on and do the same at your side. 

"Y/N, what are you doing?!" Jonah asked, confused. But Nathan and Lara had both drawn their weapons now, too, even though Nathan looked almost as confused as Jonah did. 

Abby threw up her hands, opening her mouth to protest--but you cut her off. 

"Save the acting for your drama club, Abby," you said firmly, eyes a little sad. "You started working for them when they held your brother as leverage, didn't you."

Abby's face grew serious, and she looked towards Jonah apologetically. "They'll hurt him if I don't keep helping them," she said, voice sounding genuine--but you knew better. 

"No, they're not holding your brother anymore," you said knowingly. It was all starting to make sense...the way she'd latched on to the group in town, immediately making herself indispensable as a local resource...flirting with Jonah, keeping tabs on all your progress throughout the past few days...innocently charming everyone she met-- 

"It started out that way, as they blackmailed you and you helped them in order to keep him safe. But," you gestured with your gun to her right forearm, where one of her newer tattoos was still a little inflamed. You'd seen it on her arm in Kuwaq Yaku, but not thought anything of it, since she had lots of tattoos. "victims don't get tattoos of their captors' insignias."

Abby scoffed nervously. "This isn't a symbol of Trinity."

"But it's one of Dr. Dominguez," Lara said suddenly, gasping. "The heron and the eclipse. I've seen it referenced dozens of times on this treasure hunt--it's the symbol of the Silver Box, of starting the apocalypse. You--" she stared at Abby, dismayed "you AGREE with them--"

"Pah," Abby snapped, practically spitting. "You think I WANT my home destroyed? Of course I don't. But you--" she practically snarled at Lara, her face twisting into a monstrous expression that looked nothing like the cheerful mechanic from earlier. You recognized it; it was one of hate. 

"YOU, I DO want destroyed. My brother DIED in that tsunami, tied down by the Trinity soldiers before they left so he couldn't use his hands. Drowning in the dark--" her voice broke a little, and you felt some pity, but didn't lower your gun. 

She collected herself again, eyes practically pitch-black from malicious intent. "If working with the enemy and causing this apocalypse to destroy you is what it takes, then it is a sacrifice I will gladly commit."

"It will kill thousands!" Lara cried, but Abby cut her off 

"--YOU have killed thousands!" she practically shrieked with rage. The Drake brothers tightened their grip on their guns. "How many soldiers have you killed, Lara?! How many parents will never again get to see their boys?! Hm?! How many elders and CHILDREN, DROWNING in the streets of their home on the Day of the Dead--how many INNOCENTS like my BROTHER--"

"Calm down, Abigail." The smooth, American voice slid through the trees to her right, and you knew who it was in the seconds before his body emerged. Tall, lithe, and imposing, the good-looking man brushed some dirt off his military vest cockily before looking around, an entire Trinity squadron appearing from behind.

Rourke. 

You tensed a little, partly from the arrival of another enemy--then tensed MORE when you fell under his eyes. Commander Rourke smiled, brown eyes narrowing and brightening a little bit in surprise. 

"Y/N Croft. I was hoping you'd be here. Cleaning up another one of your sister's messes, eh?"

His voice sounded genuinely pleasant and friendly--and you immediately felt Sam Drake getting thrown off. He was visibly bristling at the new guy's tone, at the fact that he spoke like he KNEW you and like he was really happy to see you. It was affectionate rather than predatory--and Sam almost hated that more. 

You kept your own voice and expression neutral; Rourke DID have a thing for you, which you already knew. It was the reason why you'd said he could be swayed when Lara first came to you in that alleyway in New Orleans. You didn't like using your feminine wiles and abusing them--but judging by the Trinity commander's excited expression, you were going to have to.

And, you realized despairingly as you were all bound and led roughly away (Rourke deliberately getting you in his more gentle grasp), it was just about going to BREAK Samuel Drake.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, I can't be the ONLY one who really really thought Abby was going to be a traitor in the game, right?? I mean, they threw in so many red herrings about it!! And that random archaeologist DID say something weird about his sister. Then nothing came of it, so this is in my opinion what SHOULD have happened in the game. 
> 
> I'm also skipping the story about the secret city of Paititi, since I didn't enjoy that part much. Thanks for reading! :)


	20. Chapter 20

You let out a little grunt with the others as you were all pushed onto the ground; Rourke had been called off to the side once you made it to their base camp, and the soldier who'd been holding you now wasn't as kind. 

"Hey!" Rourke was back in an instant, however, when he saw you being more roughly manhandled. "Not her." He knelt smoothly and took your elbow to lift you up. You felt the others watching anxiously, but kept your expression relatively calm. 

Rourke seemed almost embarrassed to be seen being so tender--he'd helped you up as gracefully as if you were at a ball--and coughed. "Keep the others under close surveillance until Dr. Dominguez gets here," he said, getting commanding again. "This one stays with me."

You glanced back at the others ruefully as you were led away; they were taking their cues from you and Lara, and staying reticent since the two of you currently were. But your nervous gaze met Sam's in the last moment, and you could see his Adam's apple bob. Nathan sat up further, clearly ready to talk his brother down despite their hands being tied. The last thing they needed was Sam's outburst; he and Nathan were particularly dispensable on this trip, and Rourke knew it. 

"So those are the Drake brothers," he said, loud enough for them to hear, just before rounding the bend "Huh. I expected more." Sam's fists clenched behind his back.

You were familiar enough with men's behaviors to hear the slight tension in Rourke's voice and to recognize it. He was threatened by those boys, and trying to make you dismiss their value because he was jealous. You let it play; perhaps the competition would come in handy during your negotiations.

"Is she gonna be okay?" Jonah whispered to Lara nervously, while Nate and Sam uneasily looked on. "Is he going to--"

Lara cut him off. "She'll be fine," she said, a little uneasy though herself. "Y/N knows how to handle that man."

Something about that sentence meant that Sam did not feel even remotely better. 

"Hey," Nathan whispered to him, nudging his side, "I've got matches in my pocket."

That DID make Sam grin. "Well then," he said huskily, "let's get this show on the road."

The base camp was bustling with activity and nerves--no doubt the guardians' attacks had them all spooked--but you still got lots of attentive stares as you were guided by. Some of these men hadn't seen a girl in a long time, you realized--and some of the more hardened soldiers gave you appreciative smirks that made your stomach clench. 

It was when you saw one of the youngest ones looking up at you from his seat and blushing that an idea began to form in your mind--and by the time you got into Rourke's tent, you were ready for your approach. 

"So how are you, Y/N?" Rourke asked, immediately untying your hands--and taking his time about holding them, you noticed tremulously. "I haven't seen you in a while."

You and Rourke had only encountered each other for that month in Siberia, due to the more problematic Croft--and Rourke's fingers brushed against your lightly-clad stomach, making it contract. He gulped bashfully. "Is that--" he nodded towards where his fingers were brushing, and you just barely managed to keep your composure at the sensation. 

"Oh, yes it's fine," you said politely. Rourke coughed again, his fingers lingering near your waistband. "I-I'd heard from some of my men that you were shot there, and just wanted to--" he nodded towards the spot where his fingers were again. 

"That's all right." You kept your voice light and friendly, unsure what to do. You'd thought he would have backed off and got to negotiating by now...

"Y/N." Rourke sighed, and you watched his face. He really was a strikingly good-looking man, with the kind of clean-cut bone structure and good looks that an all-star jock would have. "You shouldn't be here."

He sounded a little disciplinary there, but you sensed that he liked it. He was a commander for a reason, after all--and you and Lara knew from countless eavesdropped conversations that his soldiers really respected him. You'd have to be obedient if you wanted this to continue as planned.

"I know." You kept the right amount of sheepish guilt and regret in your voice--and, judging by the way that Rourke's face and smile further brightened, you'd done a good job. 

"Your sister does have a knack for causing trouble," he said sympathetically. You nodded with a small laugh. "Yes, she certainly does. Rourke--"

"Rex. Please call me Rex," he said, sounding so much like a smitten high-school boy that you couldn't help being a little caught out. He really WAS taken with you. 

Quietly--and in a tone that he was clearly interpreting as adorably shyly--you complied. "R-rex--"

You took a breath and continued, knowing that his hands were still close by. This was going to require some serious tact. "Rex, your men really look up to you. It's something I admire." You kept speaking quickly, seeing his gaze get more and more desirous "But those monsters out there are KILLING them--SAVAGELY, PAINFULLY." 

Rex's face tensed a little sadly. "Your men would follow you anywhere, and I know you really care about them--it's what makes you a great leader. But Rex--" you allowed some of your earnestness to make its way into your (E/C) eyes, feeling the effect it had on him "not one of those boys is here for Dominguez, they're here for YOU--and," you sighed. "They shouldn't have to die this way. So many of them are young, and scared, and fighting for a cause they don't even believe in. But you can STOP all that." Hating yourself a little inside, you leaned forward more, making his fingers inadvertently touch your hips. You saw his chest rise a little with a sharp breath, but kept your gaze on his.

"Because of you," you said softly, "those boys could go HOME."

Rex stared at you in thought for a second, eyes searching your face; then he slowly looked down at where his hands met the ridge of your hips. His fingers moved a little there, savoringly, and you held your breath and let them. 

He looked up to meet your gaze again, resolved. "I can do that. We can all leave. But" he stepped closer, and his hands suddenly got bolder and moved right up to hold your waist firmly, DEMANDING your attention now "only if you come WITH me."

You already knew what your answer would be, but were loath to say it--and he spoke quickly again, tugging you a little closer. "Y/N," he said carefully, and you realized he was playing you almost as much as you were playing him "you've been fixing your sister's mistakes how long now? Years? A decade?" 

He took your silence as confirmation, and his hands held you still closer. "Let her fix her own mistakes now. Let her and those Drake brothers deal with it--and for once, just--" he moved his lips to brush against yours now "just take care of YOU." 

He kissed you then, his lips lingering across yours as light as a feather then quickly growing more insistent. You did feel your heart quicken when he kissed you, and felt yourself wobble a little in place when he pressed in with his tongue. He might not have been...Sam, you thought faintly in your mind when he paused for breath, but Rex sure did know how to kiss. 

His hands were caressing your back eagerly now, the rustling of the fingers against the fabric interspersing with his quiet moans--moans that hummed straight over your own tongue and back onto his-- and one of his hands slid down and started squeezing your ass when--

The explosion knocked you both sideways, making you fall hard onto the ground for yet another time today. Another one--some kind of makeshift smoke grenade--happened within moments, and Rex leaned over you as you both flinched from the blow. Eyes opening tentatively in the smoky haze, you felt a hand yanking you up off the dirt, shoving Rex aside--and it wasn't until you heard the distinctive Boston accent saying "C'mon!" that you realized it was Sam. 

"Quick, this way!" Nathan called from nearby, and Sam tugged you in that direction. "Y'okay?" he hollered back to you, and you nodded a response before realizing he couldn't see it.

"Yes!" Your answer was almost drowned in the sound of gunfire, but the three of you made it to the treeline with just moments to spare. Lara and Jonah were covering you with their own gunfire, and stopped as soon as you three had arrived--and the next half an hour was all headlong running through the trees, sprinting until Trinity was no longer gaining on you.

And Samuel Drake was holding your hand the entire time.


	21. Chapter 21

"Okay," Nathan gasped, putting his hands on his knees and panting. "I think we're good for now."

Everyone followed his lead, stopping to take in big heaps of breath--but Sam recovered quickly, too eager to check on you to focus on things like breathing. "You sure you're all right?" he asked anxiously, one hand going onto your back. It was the same place Rex's hand had been--but this time you felt far more of a tingle. 

"Y-yes," you panted, smiling at him and watching the smile make him relax. 

"Whew," he said lightly, trying to make a joke, "what an asshole."

You laughed. "Yeah." 

"Y/N, are you--did he--" Lara came over then, having recovered nearby with Jonah. You waved her off. "I'm FINE, I'm good--"

"Okay." 

Nathan started laughing. "Y/N, you shoulda seen it. We made some flash bombs from some cans and my hidden matches--but in the middle of things, Lara got in this CRAZY kick right across Abby's face. It," he proclaimed formally, "was BAD. ASS."

Lara grinned, Jonah's arm around her. "Thanks, Nate." She sighed. "I guess I've got a nemesis now."

"Only the best treasure hunters have them," Jonah said affectionately, and she laughed, lightly smacking his arm. 

"Shit." Nathan was suddenly pulling out his walkie talkie. "D'you think they got to Sully, if Abby knew he was there? Sully; come in, Sully!"

Nathan almost sagged in relief when he heard the old man's voice. "I'm good, boy-o. Got a feeling somethin' weird was going down when some soldiers started showing up, so I hightailed it outta there. I'm hiding over near the oil fields now. But where the hell did YOU guys go?"

"Abby's backstabbing us," Nate said quickly. "She's gonna bring Trinity right to you if she can."

"Jesus. All right, I'll set up camp somewhere more obscure. This channel might be tapped sooner rather than later--so just reach out when you're safe, or when the apocalypse is about to hit. Give me some warning so I can light my last cigar."

"Glass half full, Sully!" 

"Yeah, yeah. Be careful, kids. Over and out."

"HaHA," Nate said. "See, Sam, he said the right helicopter pilot term." 

"We are NOT starting that again." Sam rolled his eyes--then put an arm around you, and started walking. You were surprised by the overt affection in front of everybody else, but let it happen. 

Sam felt almost no nervousness when he made the bold move; he'd just seen you being held by someone else, and there was no way he was letting it happen again.

He might have blushed a little, though. But he'd fight anybody who dared to say it.


	22. Chapter 22

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know it's been a long time since an update, and I'm so sorry for everyone who's been following this story! I've got more free time right now, so I should be updating more and more! Thank you so much for sticking with it!

"Damn," Nate said, surveying the area up ahead through binoculars. "Trinity must have figured out the clue too; they've blown the entrance to the mines. We'll have to find another way in." 

The past few hours had involved a LOT of walking, and everyone was tired--but, you thought as you looked up at the collapsed mine entrance, it looked like you'd be doing even more. 

There was a moment of silence as the group looked at the blocked path--the path that was SUPPOSED to lead further down into the mountain and bring you to the Box. "Y'know," Nathan said cheerfully, still seemingly perky despite the obstacle "while you guys had been talking to Abby, I actually took the time to talk to some other people in Kuwaq Yaku."

"And?" Sam asked, one arm still around you. It was making for some stilted walking, being held in a side-hug like that, but you knew from the fluttery feeling in your chest that you didn't mind it. 

"AND one of the older fellows told me about a second, long-forgotten entrance down to where the Box was always rumored to be hidden. He ended up shifting into speaking a bunch of Quechua, but what little I got basically amounted to 'bad, dangerous, and death'."

"Sounds promising," Jonah said with a weak laugh. Lara glanced at him, recognizing that Abby's betrayal had taken a toll, and you watched curiously to see her jealousy re-emerge. But instead, she just looked sympathetic, and walked a little closer to him to give him a shoulder-bump. "Hey," she said brightly, "Nothing you and I can't handle, right?"

Jonah looked down at her with a more genuine laugh. "Yeah, I guess you're right. Parasitic worms, plane wrecks, jaguars--this country sure is a bucketful of fun. Why NOT add some zombified ancient Peruvian monsters into the mix?"

"Exactly," Nate laughed. "Spice things up a little bit--"

"I don't know, I wouldn't MIND a little less spice per se," Sam joked. It was the first time you'd heard him speak in several minutes, and you looked up at him with a smile, still struggling to gauge his mood. The thought of Rourke's kiss entered your mind--and so did guilt. But you and Sam WEREN'T an item, you tried to tell yourself, not-not REALLY yet--

Actually, Sam wasn't feeling his best, but it wasn't anything negative towards you. It was just a whole lot of anger, right towards the smug asshole face of the guy that had DARED touch his--

No, Sam told himself. Not his, not-not YET--

Unaware of your parallel thoughts, you both proceeded forward as Nate led the way, trying to absorb everyone else's gradually-lightening spirits and trying to mentally prepare for whatever 'spice' lay ahead.


	23. Chapter 23

"Welp," Nate said happily, hands on his hips "here we are." He pointed at a deceptively-unassuming ledge. "The old man said that's our way in." 

"AND that whole bunch of stuff about death," Sam said, raising an eyebrow. Your mouth twitched in a grin at his expression, and he caught your eye. Maybe it was the threat of almost losing you to someone else...but something made Sam Drake bolder again, and he winked. You smiled bigger, laughing a little at the two of you's little private moment as everyone started (somewhat tremulously) lining up to take turns hopping up and into the dark cavern entrance. 

"See, NORMALLY I would say ladies first," Sam said slowly, the two of you being last to enter "but something tells me in this case that going first might not be an honor." 

You laughed a little again. "Thank you, Sam; I think you're right" you looked up at the ledge, face getting more apprehensive, and sighed "but I think in this case, order of arrival won't make much of a difference."

"So we're all fucked either way." 

You glanced over, and laughed ruefully. "Yup. We're all--" you once again struggled over the word a little, and Sam already started to laugh "f-ucked." 

"Ha!" Sam squeezed the back of your neck with one hand as he laughed, and you didn't miss the way his hand lingered before he started climbing the ledge. "Watching you try to swear never gets old," he chuckled good-naturedly, the last of his sentence fading as he got further into the cavern. "Whoop--" you heard. 

"Sam?"

There was a pause. "All good, Y/N, just--the drop is a bit of a doozy. Thanks for the heads up, GUYS." Even from hear, you could hear Sam's strong sarcasm, his Boston accent only emphasizing it further. 

You listened to Nathan's retort as you climbed in yourself, seeing nothing but darkness ahead.

"Sam, challenge builds character."

"Are you seriously quoting the nuns again, Nathan--"

"Shh!" Lara shushed them, and everyone fell into a nervous silence. "Up ahead. Did you see that?"

"See..what?" Jonah asked nervously. As you finished crawling through the small space and getting to the drop, you watched a speck of light appear. Lara must have turned on her flashlight, and three more light beams appeared in tandem. 

Sam was right, you thought as you looked down, their lights making it easier to see the distance of the drop down to the ground, this one WAS doozy.

One of the light beams turned towards you. "Y/N?" It bounced a little as it approached; Sam must be walking over to you. The sight of the bouncy flashlight beam was almost comical. "Here, come on down, it's not as bad as it looks. I could always catch you if--"

You landed roughly, accidentally cutting him off. "--you want," Sam finished. You dusted yourself off, immediately regretting the way that you'd accidentally robbed him of a chance to be your knight in shining armor. Being caught by Sam Drake sounded nice, and you quickly stepped closer to give his arm a comforting pat. "Aw, thanks Sam," you said, trying your best to sound flirty and make up for the accidental slight "some other time?"

You could see the others' light beams moving off, except for one, and knew that it was Lara. You felt a blush starting; you'd really rather no one witnessed you trying to flirt. 

Sam seemed to like it, though, and gave you another squeeze on the back of your neck with one hand while handing you his flashlight with the other. "I'll hold you to that. I'm good at catching--" he seemed to fumble whatever line he'd been going for, and coughed. "Anyway, I've got a spare light. This one's already lit."

"Thank you," you said cheerfully. 

"Guys...?" Nate said further up. "Lara, you might want to look at this."

Lara moved up ahead to join the others, you and Sam catching up moments later in the creepy dark tunnel. "What do you make of this?" Nate asked, and you aimed your light onto the object. 

It was some kind of skull decoration...a primitive-looking skull with red feathers and trinkets adorning it. There were several more around it. "Lara...?" you asked, slowly dragging your eyes from the displays to look at her. 

Lara actually looked a little nervous. "I...I don't know who made these. It's not Maya or Inca--"

An unearthly shriek sounded further off up ahead, and everyone visibly flinched. Nate cocked his shotgun. "So..." he said, sounding far less perky now "forward?"

Another shriek, and Jonah sighed. "Forward."


	24. Chapter 24

The next two minutes were eerily quiet as everyone walked--but soon your footsteps started to crunch. 

"What...." everyone looked down, unable to finish sentences as their flashlights exposed dozens and dozens of bones. 

"Are these..."

"Human?" Lara answered Jonah's question, speaking so delicately that you were certain she was forcing herself to remain calm. "Hard to say--"

"Looks like a mix," Nate said, kicking at some of the bones. "Some rodent and wildlife, some people." There was an awkward silence, and he looked up to see Jonah growing paler and Lara look exasperated. "Oh. Sorry. Definitely not human, Jonah. Super sure of that." Nate tried to sound cheerful, but it was cut off by another scream further into the cave. 

Sam moved an arm around you and held you even tighter than he had been before. "So, Lara..." he whispered, "how certain are we that we absolutely HAVE to go down here and get this Box?"

"One hundred percent." Lara sounded miserable to say it. 

"And...that's a SOLID one hundred percent? A hard yes?"

Another shriek, and Nate visibly tightened the hold on his shotgun. Lara took a deep breath. "Yes." 

"Oh." Sam paused for a sec. "Great," he said in a tiny voice. You subconsciously held him tighter too as the group eased forward, the bone crunches only adding to the unsettling ambiance. Sam would have been pleased by your embrace if he hadn't been starting to get scared shitless. 

Lara loaded her own shotgun as she walked, and you thanked your lucky stars that the others had thought to steal some weaponry during the escape from Trinity's camp. The Fossa machine-pistol at your hip wasn't as powerful at close range as a twelve-gauge shotgun like Lara's, but it would definitely help. Sam and Jonah started loading their own guns--Sam's an AK 47, and Jonah's a Micro machine-pistol like yours--and you took the cue, releasing your hold on Sam in order to carry the gun at the ready with one hand and aim the flashlight with the other.

Judging by the shriek that sounded just now--MUCH closer--you were going to need it.


	25. Chapter 25

"Whoa whoa whoa." Sam held out a hand to stop Lara. It had been a few more incredibly tense minutes, and the group was about to cross through the first architectural structure that you'd come across. It was little more than two stone walls with a stone floor underneath, but Sam looked nervous all the same.

"There." He pointed at the floor, where a thin rope was stretched. "Trap," he whispered, the eerie silence of the place clearly getting to him. You had to admit, you weren't feeling very chatty yourself. At this rate, it would be better to just be attacked already, you thought; everyone had already been scared half to death several times as creatures scuttled by in their peripheral vision, and the shrieks weren't helping either. Nate had nearly passed out over the movement of a rat. 

Lara nodded gratefully, kneeling down slowly and reaching out with a dagger to cut it. As soon as she did, massive blood-red spikes jutted out from the stone walls, and everyone ducked. 

"JEsus," Sam swore, mostly to himself. Jonah gulped. "Those are definitely my height."

"Pretty sure we'd ALL be dead," Nate said, feebly trying to sound lighthearted. He was practically shaking from the rat. 

"Hey, up ahead," you whispered, pointing with the flashlight. "Looks like we're climbing."

The idea of climbing was somehow a huge relief; being midair seemed safer than here. The Pishtaco couldn't rope-swing....right? you asked yourself. 

"Good." Lara sounded relieved too. "But first--" she started getting on the floor, bones crunching under her hands as she made her way under the spikes "we're crawling."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"I don't like this at all," Sam murmured, crawling right behind you. It was slow going for everyone, since the spikes were tightly packed. 

"Can't exactly say that I'm a fan either," you answered quietly, not even bothering to make it sound like a joke. Even Nathan was all out of jokes now.

Something sprinted by overhead with a shriek, moving so fast that it was just a humanoid blur of white; you and Sam froze in your crawling positions, while the other three looked on from the new side, their faces pale as they stood in a little group. 

"Not a rat," you heard Nate whisper. 

"Guys? Maybe hurry--"

Something landed on the spikes then with a horrid scream, launching itself in between the spikes after you. The scream combined with yours and Sam's, and the shotgun shots from Lara and Nate; you and Sam were curled up under the spikes, trying to dodge the claws that reached in for you--BONY claws--

The scream and the slashing claws stopped. "Get out!" Nate frantically called. "More coming--"

You didn't think you'd ever moved so fast, and neither did Sam. "Holy shit," he panted as the two of you anxiously caught up to the group. "Y'okay??" he asked, looking you over. "Yes," you said shakily, "you? I didn't get a good look at it--"

"Fine" Sam was saying as Lara spoke, everyone back to back with their guns and lights aimed out "Well I DID see it, and that's definitely Pishtaco, I saw a drawing of them--"

"Goddammit," Nate muttered, reloading his gun "they're fast--I didn't expect them to be so FAST--"

A horde of the monsters suddenly emerged from a ledge overhead, pouring down the wall like spiders. "Go! CLIMB!" Lara yelled, pointing ahead to a cliff outcropping. You broke into a sprint with the others, the monstrous creatures already getting too close. Holy SHIT they were fast--

You jumped with a cry to land on the stone ledge, already starting to hop and climb up and up with everyone else--

One of the Pishtaco landed right next to you, slamming into the ledge so hard that rock fragments fell off. It snarled at you, a grotesque bony face with soul-less eyes and fanged teeth, and you felt your heart stop in fright. "SHIT!" Lara yelled. "Y/N, duck!" 

You pressed yourself against the stone wall and watched the monster fall back as it was hit was a spattering of bullets--but another jumped on to take its place. 

"Up here!" Sam yelled. "Swing across--"

You caught up with the others, one zombie right on your tail--Jonah and Nate kicked it back off the ledge, trying to shoot at it as it fell--there was a big dead tree with a branch for rope hooks--

There was only enough space for one person to swing across the cavern to safety at a time, and it was quite possibly the most stressful minute of your life as everyone held the Pishtaco back with gunfire, each person anxiously waiting their turn--

"Go!" Sam pushed you ahead of him, giving you no choice as you fell into the rope's swing. You jumped off to the safe ledge across the way, Lara and Nate pulling you up, but you were already looking back--GOD if anything happened to Sam--

He made it last right after Jonah, landing roughly on the ledge with a groan, and Nathan had already loaded the sniper rifle he'd been carrying and was trying to pick some of them off as best he could. "Forget it," Lara yelled over the frustrated shrieks of the monsters across the large chasm. "They'll get over here soon enough, somehow! We've just got to keep moving!" 

Nate let out one more sniper shot, killing another before the group headed further on into the caves. 

"Y/N" Sam panted out, breathless from the chase. "Yes?" You asked, looking at him with concern as everybody ran. "I've" pant "upgraded it" pant "to REALLY not liking this."


End file.
